When you think of a hospital room, forced pleasantries may come to mind. A hospital room is not a place where people go to analyze the décor. However, most hospitals do attempt, at least on some level, to make the rooms aesthetically pleasing to patients. The little paintings on the wall, the awful bright industrial wallpaper, the stone cold flooring, indifferent window dressings, and some rooms even attempt to camouflage hospital fixtures with cheap plastic floral arrangements. I am not sure about everybody, but I have never thought that all patients do not share the same hospital atmosphere while lying in a hospital bed, surfing through awful cable channels on the outdated TV with the blocky, bedside remote. Until one day when I had to have an overnight stay at the hospital and I overheard some nurses talking about the two "new rooms added to the important part." This piqued my curiosity and I began thinking "What important part?" "There is an important part of a hospital?" "What two rooms?"
My curiosity made me press that little call button that I know is only for pain, blood, or other medical issues. The nurse came in about two minutes after I pressed the call button and asked what was wrong. I asked her, "I overheard you guys talking and I was just curious... what two new rooms?" She then proceeded to tell me that the hospital had just refinished two very nice rooms for people who pay for the luxury hospital rooms. I asked her, "rich people, right?" And she said, "Yes, generally richer people stay in the better rooms." I asked her what was different between my room and the rich room and she said that the beds are much larger, there is only one bed per room, the TVs are flat screen, and it looks like a "nice hotel room, overall."
She left my room and my mind was racing, my feelings were turning from confusion to outrage quickly. Why are there better rooms for rich people? This is essentially saying that medical care and treatment by the medical staff is not equal and this is a direct conflict between the standards of care and patient equality. As a patient, I began to doubt my level of medical treatment versus the treatment a rich executive may get in the same hospital.
Why should rich people be more comfortable than poor people? Why should rich people be set apart from poorer people, especially when the level of care should be the same for all people? Why should money help comfort a sick rich person but not a sick poor person in a public setting, when all people have a right to universal care? How can a hospital allow different treatment for different people, based on socioeconomic status? Should the rich be allowed better rooms? What about the public element of this situation? Should public hospitals offer a first class selection for patients? What if this issue was directed toward rich children instead of rich adults? Would that make a difference?
These questions certainly raise the issue of moral outrage and this is quite an ethical dilemma. What kind of message is a hospital sending to people when they have this type of obvious discrimination between the social classes? The message is clear to me: If you have money, you are treated better. The hospital may or may not give better healthcare to richer people, but the message from hospitals that offer nicer rooms for the rich are certainly sending the message that they do offer better treatment to those who have money.
Here are some links that also address this moral issue:
Rich People Get Way Fancier Hospital Rooms Than Regular Sick People
Rather Than Fix America's Hospitals, The Rich Are Building Their Own
Hospitals Offer First Class Deliveries To Those Who Can Afford It
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