Mick:

As a lifelong "professional patient" myself --- I can shed some light on this matter of having a laptop in the hospital.

First of all, hospitals no longer allow the patients to bring in their own electronic equipment, such as I used to do when I was a young man.

Cell phones, laptops, portable "boombox" CD players, TV's, and the like are not allowed for a couple of reasons:

01) They interfere with the hospital's electronic equipment; such as heart monitors, and other such equipment.

02) They interfere with the hospital "renting" you the TV hanging on the wall somewhere near the foot of the patients' bed. In Buffalo, this charge is about four dollars per day!

(fuck that, I read books instead!)

03) They pose a theft and insurance liability problem.

I just asked Paula what the policy is at the hospital she works at, and she said that it is all banned!

By the way, Paula works on the telemetry unit, which is a middle ground between CCU (Cardiac Care Unit) and a regular hospital floor. Telemetry is the floor that deals with problems of the heart. It is interesting that this is where she ended up, because Paula is the most empathic person I have ever known in my entire life.

However, given all these bans, there is a way that it could still be done. A fully charged laptop could be brought to the patient, and e-mail could be read, written, and dropped into the OUTBOX for delivery when the patient's visitor returned home after visiting hours.

Hopefully, this should answer your question!

P.S. - Pay no mind to Reg, he is just "jealous" that his "feet" aren't as BIG AND HAIRY as yours are!

KDB = Buffalo, NY USA