Is it necessary to visit friends in the hospital

This is a copy of an answer that I posted on Quora

First, find out if this person wishes to be visited. Many patients in hospitals are not feeling well enough to entertain visitors. They might not want you to come at all.

However, I certainly had a story in my past that made me feel that hospital visits can be very important.

There was a guy in my Quaker Meeting who caught AIDS, back in the early 1980’s. He was gay, single, overweight, ugly, in his 50’s and alone in the world: no immediate family, few friends.

The hospital decided that he was a good person to neglect, because no one would notice.

One of my fellow congregants went to visit him and discovered him lying in his own feces.

We all started visiting him — and his care improved dramatically. One of the members of the Quaker Meeting claimed to be his brother (of course he wasn’t a biological brother, just a spiritual brother, but he didn’t tell the hospital that — in a possible violation of our truth testimony) But once the hospital thought that the guy had a brother, that really helped as well, plus they had someone who could talk to them about care decisions, because the sick guy was too sick to talk much.

Anyway, so, yes, sometimes it *is* important to visit, but check out the situation first.


https://www.quora.com/Is-it-really-necessary-to-visit-someone-who-is-admitted-in-a-hospital/answer/Annalisse-Mayer?share=b5f85e96