As poignant an image as that is, most people fail to understand what the hospital is doing for their patient.

When you have a 75 year old guy, who has smoked for 60 years, dying of pretty darn much ANYTHING, you do things for the patient that are going to keep him relaxed and relatively calm and happy rather than only things that you think would be good for him.

People at the cancer center don't give their terminal patients shit over failing to quit smoking.

That's all well and good, but I think the core problem here is he's smoking with an oxygen tank strapped to him. Burning embers...highly concentrated oxygen. Hmmmmm.....

They shut them off during smoke time. It wouldn't do to have old people both gasping for breath and bursting into open flame at the same time.

One of my EMT friends used to do tricks with an O2 tank. The best was taking a hit off the tank and then blowing through the cigarette.

You should be careful around the stuff, but it's not like it's hydrogen or anything.

Hm...they must do at the VA. I'm just thinking of a friend's emphasmatic grandmother who was on an oxygen regimen, nearly bed-ridden and still smoked 3 packs a day with impunity.

Would make for some bad press. Wolf's right, though. Nearly all of the patients on the psych ward smoke and they get several breaks during the day to do just that. It would stress them out too much to have them stop smoking for the duration of a hospital stay--same thing for the resp/cardiac patients. We do try to encourage the "Patch" but not many takers. It's one hell of an addiction. I can always tell who smokes just by looking at their skin. All wrinkly and yellow/grey.

That's hepatitis. And/or really poor hygiene.

Rule of thumb: The crazier the patient, the more likely it is they smoke.

There are a bunch of studies on this, although I honestly forget if the conclusion is that the smoking itself is calming for them, or it in someway enhances the antipsychotic meds.

Oh, and not that it means anything, really, many of the staff smoke too. Probably higher numbers than the general popultion.

My mother's neighbor was 87 with terminal cancer. His wife made him go outside in the MA winter to smoke. :eyebrow:

I'm an American who is ethnically and religiously tolerant - the first thing I noticed was how skinny everybody there is.

A few years back, an emt from CA. spent a few weeks here. She said all oxygen cylinders in CA. were marked flammable. I beg to differ, as to being flammable. I have worked w/oxygen, as a welder since 1959. Oxygen will NOT burn. So I had to take here out to shop & show her. Oxygen accelerates( like to have never found that word) combustion!

methanphetamine, it's rife as hell it thailand, people on that shit do things like this.

Only for a few years, though. Then the world would fill with people, and they'd be back to fighting over land.

Would also explain the skinniness of the population.

I doubt it. Research shows that as cultures become more industrialized their population growth decreases. There is more than enough land for a long time because with increased industrialization comes decreased population growth and increase yield per acre. There would be a balance at some point.

it would be kind of funny if he let the bicycle go!
"look mum no hands"