Hospital Roommates

To be read in "stand up comic voice"

Is there any concept stranger than hospital roommates? Now let's see -- we'll take two complete strangers and place them in the same room because they are both sick. Most people can't get along normally when they are healthy, now you're asking that in their most vulnerable situation that they now find a way to be cordial?

This also leads to some other potentially awkward social situations. For example, you're eating dinner while your roommate is hitting up a bed pan. That can't be appetizing. What if your roommate snores, or even worse, is insane? If you have some ailment that you're embarrassed about (maybe bumps/growths in funny places?) do you really want to disclose that to your doctor while some stranger is but a thin curtain away?

And you can't complain to the nurse about your roommate since they're always there and can hear through the previously mentioned curtain. I know it's a space saving maneuver but why didn't they just build smaller rooms?