[Aliantha]

It's all about group wards over here, unless you're a private patient, in which case you get your own room. Lots more people have private health insurance these days though, so there are a lot more private hospital wards around to meet those needs.

I would suggest that since people in the US in general only go to hospital if they have health insurance (unless there's no way out of it of course), that would be why you get your own room. People would expect it since insurance costs so much.

I don't think people over here in the public system have such high expectations, although I have to say, a private room is nice. I've had 4 babies. Twice I was in a ward, and twice I had my own room. All four times sucked, but the two where I had my own room didn't suck quite as hard.