My best friend spent a week in the hospital with a life-threatening condition. Besides the almost dying part, it was the most relaxing and life-refocusing event of their adult life and they're grateful to have experienced it. A forced reset and some compulsory solitude can be a blessing sometimes.

Were I to ever go to prison, I think I would personally love to get some solitary confinement time.

[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Solitude? Damn, are your hospitals made out of gold as well?

If you're unlucky over here you get up to 7 other patiens in the same, unventilated room. Including patients who have air-transmittable infections because why not?

Air conditioning doesn't exist in hospitals either by the way. That's a luxury hospitals aren't obligated to (and as such never) provide. Enjoy dehydrating in 30°C+ rooms.

I'd much rather just stay in solitude in my home for a week.

[–] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

over here you get up to 7 other patiens in the same, unventilated room. Including patients who have air-transmittable infections

That's a surprisingly apt description of Hell, at least for me.

My friend was at a much nicer hospital, albeit they didn't see anything made of gold. They had their own room. It certainly wasn't paradise; I think the recovery from sepsis gave them a clarity of mind and purpose that transcended the casual discomforts. Plus they were medevac'd 400km from their home, so they were more socially isolated than normal. Sort of like a monastic experience? Thankfully they have excellent insurance, so the medical costs weren't a giant concern like they would be for most people in the US, which probably would have been mentally debilitating otherwise.

[–] biggerbogboy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Where I live, hospitals are way better than this. My dad got slashed by a stingray in the ankle and was treated and admitted to a two bed room with air conditioning, circulation, TVs, and a whole host of other stuff, all for free.

Which country do you live in by chance? I'm in Australia, so Medicare's pretty solid here, I'm quite curious on how it works over there.

[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 hours ago

Germany.

8 patients per room is really the upper legal limit (as anything more is considered intolerable) and exceedingly rare but having at least one other patient in the same room is the default. Even if single rooms are available, hospitals prefer to put you into rooms with other people as they offer single patient rooms for ~120€/day and dual patient rooms for ~70€/day.

When I was in the hospital for a pretty severe gastrointestinal infection as a child, I had one bed neighbor with a severe cough which I obviously caught after the stay. It wasn't as severe but pretty annoying nonetheless.

TVs generally exist for free but usually only one per room so you'll have to negotiate with your roommates. WiFi, if existant, definitely costs money and will have early 2000's speed.

In general, hospital stays have roughly the same standard as in the 70's or 80's as there hasn't been noteworthy investment ever since. Anything considered a luxury and unnecessary for treatment will likely not be provided for free.