A Smoke break at the Ziekenhuis

For those readers who don't speak Flemish or Dutch, Ziekenhuis means hospital. When I think of a hospital, images of white sterile halls, IV drips and painkillers come to mind. Hospitals today are smoke free. There was a time when I think it was allowed to smoke in hospitals. I recall watching an episode of St. Elsewhere, where one of the doctors was actually smoking in the hospital. This was all before people were ostracized for smoking. Today, you would extremely hard pressed to find a doctor lighting up in a hospital. I don't even think you can smoke within a certain radius of such a place. Signs are plastered all over the place reminding you over and over again not to smoke. Do you really want to stand out and be the only one smoking?

I walked past Clinique Parc du Leopold on Rue Froissart in Brussels. The non-descript brownish looking building is ugly yet benign. I would always glance at the building and think to myself, "luckily there is a hospital near my house in case I need to go somewhere ASAP." Today, I am not so sure. What I saw outside on the steps was absolutely horrifying. I saw many people smoking. Fine, people need a place to smoke but I saw patients puffing away. How did I know they were patients? Well, the hospital gown, the wheelchair, and the tubing in the nose gave it away. Oh, I don't want to forget to mention the can on the back of the wheelchair that looked like an oxygen tank.

Shocked, disgusted and surprised were some emotions that were coursing through my mind. I believe it is some one's own personal choice to smoke. If you want nicotine, fine. Smoke, I could not care less but should a hospital let its own patients smoke out front? What kind of example does that set for the hospital? What does this say about the health care system in Belgium? Belgium is supposed to have one of the best health care systems in the world but does that mean patients should take advantage of that and smoke while under hospital care? Should my tax dollars go towards the hospital taking care of someone who smokes on its premises? Shouldn't patients at least wait until they are discharged before they rot their lungs out some more? I don't have the answers to this.