[1] However, a lack of understanding of the role of mosquitoes in disease transmission resulted in massive outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever, which besieged the hospital where at times the death rate of patients was estimated at 75%.

[2] When the American government bought the French canal company in 1904, the Ancon hospital was considered an important asset.

PFC Donald's wife, née Dolores Francis Maiorano, also of Newark, traveled to Panama so she could be with her husband for the birth.

Bomb threats occurred several times a week, and during one incident, Panamanian demonstrators occupied a nearby empty parking lot and threatened the facility.

On October 3, 1989, an attempted coup by members of the Panama Defense Forces (PDF) to oust General Manuel Noriega led to short, violent gun battles in the streets adjacent the complex.

Navy Lieutenant Roberto Paz, whose death at the hand of Panamanian paramilitaries (or possibly the PDF) ultimately led to the invasion, was brought to Gorgas after being shot.