Rakan plugged his ears and refused to listen or to talk on the phone to his family in Iraq, while Himmet Taskomur, a Turkish friend from Cambridge, tried to reason with him. Rakan wanted to go home, but his sister and brother-in-law in Iraq insisted that he follow the doctors' orders.

Dr. Laurence Ronan, the MGH internist who oversaw his care looked on, as did social worker Amy Simpson, right, and Deb McSweeney, a therapist, left.