Nobody stays in hospital alone

In Thai hospitals a patient is seldom left alone. Relatives take turns to เฝ้าไข้, sleeping on the sofa bed that private rooms provide, bringing food from home, and running to the pharmacy and billing counter. Doctors often brief the family together at the bedside, and big choices such as surgery, chemotherapy or moving to palliative care are commonly decided as a family rather than by the patient alone. Some families ask the doctor to tell them bad news first and choose how to tell an elderly parent. Visitors come with a fruit basket or boxed juice and say หายไวๆ นะ. ICU visits are short and fixed, so ask the nurses' station (เคาน์เตอร์พยาบาล) for the times before you travel.