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(Dr. William Campbell Douglass has led a colorful, rebellious, and crusading life. Not many physicians would dare put their professional reputations on the line as many times as this courageous healer has. He may be considered radical in some of his thinking but he has been called “the conscience of modern medicine,” a ‘medical maverick,’ and has been voted “Doctor of the Year” by the National Health Federation. His medical experiences are far reaching—battling malaria in Central America, fighting deadly epidemics at his own health clinic in Africa, flying with U.S. Navy crews as a flight surgeon and working for 10 years in emergency medicine in the U.S.  These learning experiences, not to mention his keen storytelling ability and wit, make Dr. Douglass’ newsletters and books uniquely interesting and fun to read. And they’ve led to great success—for instance, Dr. Douglass’ Real Health Breakthroughs newsletter, now with more than 100,000 subscribers, is one of the largest circulation “alternative medicine” publications in the world.  Yet, there is another side to Bill Douglass—a globetrotting expatriate who has lived in nearly a dozen countries and, after a decade outside the United States, decided to settle in Panama, one of The Sovereign Society’s top-rated jurisdictions for tax-advantaged residency. We caught up with Bill on June 14th and interviewed him from his spacious ocean-view Panama City penthouse.)  TSI: One of the questions our readers ask us most is what could motivate someone to leave the United States and live in another country. What led to your decision to leave the United States?  Douglass: I retired from practicing medicine 10 years ago, and left the United States, because I was fed up with the government. I couldn’t practice the “unconventional” medicine I espouse without risking penalties, jail and confiscation of everything I owned. It was a good decision, too—it’s gotten so bad now that a U.S. doctor can be jailed if he prescribes too many painkillers to a patient in agonizing pain suffering from terminal cancer. I’m now devoting myself full-time to medical research and writing.  Not long after I retired, I decided to see if there were other places to live that offered more freedom, and less “big brother,” than the United States. I spent a year in St. Petersburg, Russia, doing research on “light therapy,” a cheap and effective technology for treating infections that’s been brutally suppressed in the United States. I also lived in Finland, Spain and Turkey before arriving two years ago in Panama.

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Douglass: With the Internet and e-mail, given the fact that I’m a full-time writer, I can live just about anywhere. And Panama is the nicest offshore destination I’ve seen so far.

I was here many years ago when the United States still controlled the Panama Canal and was impressed enough that I decided to give it a second look. When I did, I decided to apply for pensionado status, which is a program the Panamanian government has in place to attract self-supporting retirees. You only need to demonstrate an income of US$500/month, which is enough to live on here. You can import your household goods free of tax and even bring in a new car every two years, tax-free. If you have income of $2,000/month or more, you can live like a king. 

TSI: Where in Panama do you live? 

Douglass: I live with my wife in a fifth-floor penthouse in Panama City, the capital and largest city. It’s about 4,000 square feet of living space, more than 100 years old, and costs me US$400/month. 
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DR. William Campbell Douglass has led a colorful, rebellious, and crusading life. Not many physicians would dare put their professional reputations on the line as many times as this courageous healer has. DR. Douglass has been practicing medicine for over twenty-five years. DR. Douglass comes from a distinguished family of pysicians. He is the fourth generation Douglass to practice medicine, and his son is also a physician. To learn about his newsletter, Real Health Breakthroughs go to: http://www.realhealthnews.com. -  His books, including the very controversial ones, are on sale at http://www.rhinopublish.com -

Douglass: No, I found it on my own. I tried to use agents to find a property, but unlike the United States, there is no “multiple listing service” here. Each agent only can show you the properties that he or she has on contract. 

You can look at a lot more properties by just driving around the neighborhoods you’re interested in living in and making inquiries if you see a para alquileror (for rent) or para venta (for sale) sign. I also learned that sometimes places are available where there isn’t even a sign posted, and that’s how I found my penthouse. 

TSI: Without using an agent, were you able to speak enough Spanish to make contact with property owners? 

Douglass: Unfortunately, I don’t speak Spanish very well—although since I’m living here now, I’m trying to learn more. Instead, I hired a local Panamanian man to drive me around Panama City to look for property. This wasn’t expensive—I paid him US$2/hour, which is the standard wage here. Every time I saw a property that looked interesting, we would stop and I’d ask him to contact whoever was offering it to make inquiries. 
One day we drove by a beautiful old Spanish colonial villa, five stories high, nestled in between some of the highest skyscrapers in Panama City. It was hard to believe this architectural gem hadn’t been torn down, but it wasn’t, and for me, it was love at first sight. There weren’t any signs indicating that there were any apartments available, though, so I asked my driver to find out if there might be an unpublicized vacancy. In typical Panamanian fashion, he argued against it, but I insisted, and when he returned, he told me there was one apartment available on the first floor. 

After making contact with the owner, I found out that there was also a vacancy for a huge penthouse apartment on the fifth floor. While it’s very old, it didn’t need any major renovations, and at only US$400, it was a real bargain. It’s really spacious, centrally located and (very important in hot and humid Panama City), it’s air-conditioned. 

TSI: How do you like living in Panama City? 

Douglass: I like it more than anywhere else I’ve lived outside the United States. Like anywhere else, it’s not perfect and you have the same deterioration of legal and social morality that you have almost everywhere else in the world (but particularly in the United States). There’s crime here, but I’ve never felt threatened. There are just certain parts of the city that you should avoid, especially at night. 

One of the best aspects of Panama, at least for me, is that you can obtain a high-speed Internet connection for about what you would pay in the United States. I pay US$155/month for two 1024 kbps connections, which are absolutely essential for my work. Also, I use e-mail in place of postal mail even for local correspondence. The local mail service isn’t reliable and you have to wait for hours in line to do things as routine as paying your electric bill, or hire someone to wait for you. Fortunately, this is beginning to improve. 

Another aspect I like is that you don’t feel that you’re continually being snooped on. The only exception is if you’re politically active locally—which I’m not. People mind their own business and the government doesn’t have enough money to spy on everyone all the time, like in the United States. And you can fly just about anywhere in the world without having to even enter the United States. This is important for people who, for whatever reason, would prefer to not have all their travel details, credit card information, and God-knows-what-else entering into the U.S. government’s “homeland security” computer system. 

One thing that is different, though, is that cash transactions are carefully monitored—but not because of the war on drugs or terrorism. It’s because counterfeit U.S. currency of very high quality, apparently produced by the drug mafias in neighboring Colombia, is common. If you pay for anything with a $100 bill, for instance, you’ll have to present identification and the serial number of the bill, along with your contact details, which will be recorded in a logbook. 
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Douglass. No, and that’s the way I like it. My publisher takes care of marketing, fulfillment, etc., so all I need to do is write. 
From what I’ve seen, setting up in business here is difficult, especially for a foreigner. There’s a fairly antagonistic attitude between labor and management. And local workers can be lazy, childish and often dishonest. There are exceptions, of course, but you have to fire a lot of people to find the right employee. 

Another problem is that once you hire someone, you’re responsible for that person, in some cases, for life. For instance, if you hire a woman who becomes pregnant, who is then injured on-the-job, you (the employer) are responsible for paying all the expenses relating to her giving birth. If she is permanently disabled, you may even have to pay for the child’s upbringing until he or she is an adult. 

There’s also constant government interference in business here, which I had enough of when I was practicing medicine in the United States. So, I try to avoid as much of that as possible. 

TSI: Are you a Panamanian citizen? Why or why not? 

Douglass: No, it’s difficult for a foreigner to obtain Panamanian citizenship. While I think the United States is a lost cause, both politically and morally, I’m still a U.S. citizen. 

TSI: Looking back, what do you think were your best—and worst—experiences as an expat? 

Douglass: Most of my experiences offshore have been positive, with the best ones in Panama. I’ve had a tremendous increase in my quality of life and personal freedom here, particularly in comparison to the United States. 
The one experience that wasn’t that much fun was living in Instanbul, Turkey. It wasn’t the Turks’ fault that I didn’t like their country; it was just that the culture and the environment were so different that I just didn’t enjoy anything except the view from my apartment, which was beautiful. 

TSI: Is there anything else you’d like to mention? 

Douglass: Panama is a mixed bag but, overall, I think I made a wise choice by coming here. It’s a beautiful country that can offer any type of world you want. If you want city life, bustling Panama City offers excellent amenities, including wonderful restaurants. If you like the ocean, you can live on the Caribbean or Pacific beaches, both beautiful. And the mountains are only 40 minutes away by car—I have a vacation home on property overlooking Panama City that looks like Hawaii. Adding the pluses and the minuses, Panama is a definite plus. 

TSI: How can Sovereign Society members learn more about your work? 

Douglass: They can learn about my newsletter, Real Health Breakthroughs at http://www.realhealthnews.com. My books, including the very controversial ones, are on sale at http://www.rhinopublish.com -
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Bill Douglass will attend The Sovereign Society’s Offshore Opportunities Conference in Panama City during October 20-23, 2004 and looks forward to meeting fellow sovereign individuals there. Please visit the Sovergin Society website:  to learn more about how you can attend this event! - www.sovereignsociety.com

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