"I explained to him that this was not the Hyatt Regency, but we had to find him another place for him to stay," the lawyer, George Duzane, later reported to the court.
But the visit, which took place in August of last year and led to Gordon's temporary departure from the hospital, had its origin in a last-minute amendment to legislation involving conservatorships approved earlier that year.
The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Farmer after he was approached by various hospitals, was added to a bill designed to protect those who are placed in the care of conservators. The amendment gave hospitals a way to petition for court approval to discharge patients they say no longer need the costly care of a major health facility.
In Nashville the add-on provision has been used a dozen times to try to discharge people, more than half of them listed on court documents as currently or formerly homeless. In nine of the cases, including Gordon's, the petitions were approved by Davidson Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy.
The petition for Gordon's dismissal from the hospital was filed Aug. 8. He died less than a month later, on Sept. 2.
It's not clear from records and interviews who bore ultimate responsibility for the care of the patients involved. No one has alleged that the care they received was substandard. What is known is that the legislation gave hospitals a new way to move patients into other facilities.
Adrienne Newman, associate executive director of FiftyForward, which had been named as Gordon's health care fiduciary under the new law, said Gordon was transferred to a rehabilitation facility but then sent back to Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital on the day he died.
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Last-minute change in law lets hospitals drop patients