Another Pet Hate.

Hospitals. I have an abiding and quite virulent dislike of hospitals. It’s partly down to the fact that they tether you in close proximity to complete strangers, and my tolerance of the majority of the human species is far too low to accept that particular form of torture.

But it’s also about how they’re built and designed, which is too much about function and not enough about form. They’re designed by architects with practicality and efficiency in mind, rather than by humanists who recognise that people are more than just biological machines.

When my grandfather was dying of TB he was locked in his bedroom and the only person allowed in there was my grandmother. If the same or similar fate befalls me, I hope someone will lock me into my house and allow access only to a nurse come to dispense palliative care. If I have to die in hospital, I will know that my luck has finally run out.