They have televisions in hospitals now? Shit fire!
A decade ago I was in the hospital for 10 days. They wouldn't even let me have my cell phone, and even if there was a TV, I was so out of it most of the time I didn't give a shit.
Having your guts ripped open and put back together with 36 staples will have that effect.
This of course is one of the reasons I've seen medical costs skyrocket so much in just my life.
In 1951, in North Platte, Nebraska, hospital charges (bed and board only) were $6 a day; this was way before my time, but I know it because it's said so in one of my father's radio shows (he was a hospital administrator).
In 1971, in the Sandhills town where I spent my adolescence, hospital charges (bed and board only) was an even $100 day (source: same as above).
Somewhere in between those twenty years, hospitals started adding things such as television, telephones, and other special services.
The last time I spent a day-night-partial day in a hospital (they've always otherwise been partial-day stays) was in late January 1993, but I dunno what the basic bed-and-board charge was, as I worked for an insurance company at the time, and was 100% covered. The room was fitted up as if in Buckingham Palace--no "special services" which I could possibly use, though--and so I imagine the basic bed-and-board charge was at least the same as the finest hotel in Lincoln.
When my oldest sister was hospitalized in one of the big hospitals in Omaha in 2000, being the last other member of the family, I had to be there. I freaked out. While waiting for the end to come, during the middle of one night, I went downstairs, thinking I'd find some vending machines, or maybe even a staff/visitor's cafeteria.
I'll be damned if they didn't have what seemed a full-fledged five-star restaurant on first floor; linen tablecloths and napkins, real silver silverware,
waiters, chandeliers, candles, and the finest of French cuisine.
I freaked out. No wonder hospital charges are so high (I have no idea what they currently are, although I suspect the basic bed-and-board daily fee is at least $500); all these "special services" have to be subsidized somehow.
Okay, I'm deaf, so my "needs" aren't as much as they are for hearing people. I always endorsed Florence Nightingale's principle that the
only function of a hospital is to hold ill or injured people until they get whole again. If it reduces hospital charges, then I'm eminently satisfied with spartan barracks-style accommodations and bland food, no comforts and accommodations for visitors.
I'm there to get well, not to luxuriate around as if I were in a holiday resort.
