A forum at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law has put hard numbers on elder hospital abandonment, a problem the island's hospitals have been quietly absorbing: the Family Department has attended 5,762 older adults abandoned in hospitals between 2017 and 2026, according to figures presented at the November 4 forum, and organizers cautioned the true count is likely higher.^[1][2][3] Speakers described the human scale of the holdovers: elders stranded in hospital beds, an average of 43 days, with one case lasting 118 days before the patient died.^[4][5] The backdrop is an older population of 962,802 - the number of Puerto Ricans over 60 recorded in 2025 - and the panel framed abandonment as a public health and human rights failure rather than a string of isolated misfortunes.^[6][7] Presenters also identified a missing rung in the care system: the island lacks support homes and assisted housing for elders.^[8] Proposals aired at the forum included specialized courtrooms for elder cases, advance directives, and durable powers of attorney.^[9] The forum was organized by Probono Justicia en Salud of the UPR School of Law.^[10]