History Main / HospitalVisitHesitation

# It brings back bad memories of their own hospitalization or another loved one's, especially if the latter never came out.

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]

* In ''Literature/TheMoonOfGomrath'', set in rural England, the older countrywoman Bess Mossock displays a fear of doctors and hospitals. Part of this might be rural superstition - she would believe a hospital is a place where the terminally ill go to die - but part might be down to the time and place. In England in TheFifties, Bess would belong to the generation that came before the[=NHS=], where Britain had an almost American approach to healthcare - it had to be paid for and it didn't come cheap. People would defer medical attention for as long as possible, deterred and frightened by the cost. [[note]]TruthInTelevision. When a British woman on holiday in New York lost her leg from the hip down in an horrific accident, the response in Britain noted she'd lost a leg - but focused on "poor cow, this happened in AMERICA. The Yanks are really going to rip her off with a massive bill". Six or seven figures? People were more horrified by the cost of American medicine, not by the injury.[[/note]]

** In another episode, Dorothy is scheduled for surgery for a Morton's neuroma, a kind of benign nerve tumor that has been causing her intermittent foot pain and interfering with her daily activities (including an upcoming dance recital). She reveals herself to have a phobia of hospitals that started when she was five--she'd had an emergency tonsillectomy and circumstances kept both of her parents from being there, and she never got over the childhood fear. [[Creator/RobertPicardo Her doctor's]] casual discussion of all that could go wrong doesn't help, either. A conversation with her hospital roommate, who's in for her second mastectomy and is facing it stoically despite her very real fear, snaps her out of it. (And, to top it off, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments this time Sophia makes sure to stay by her daughter's side until she wakes up from the anaesthetic.]]

** In another episode, Dorothy is scheduled for surgery for a Morton's neuroma, a kind of benign nerve tumor that has been causing her intermittent foot pain and interfering with her daily activities (including an upcoming dance recital). She reveals herself to have a phobia of hospitals that started when she was five--she'd had an emergency tonsillectomy and circumstances kept both of her parents from being there, and she never got over the childhood fear. [[Creator/RobertPicardo Her doctor's]] casual discussion of all that could go wrong doesn't help, either. A conversation with her hospital roommate, who's in for her second mastectomy and is facing it stoically despite her very real fear, snaps her out of it. (And, to top it off, [[SugarWiki/Heartwarming this time Sophia makes sure to stay by her daughter's side until she wakes up from the anaesthetic.]]

* In ''Literature/TheMoonOfGomrath'', set in rural England, the older countrywoman Bess Mossock displays a fear of doctors and hospitals. Part of this might be rural superstition - she would believe a hospital is a place where the terminally ill go to die - but part might be down to the time and place. In England in TheFifties, Bess would belong to the generation that came before the[=NHS=], where Britain had an almost American approach to healthcare - it had to be paid for and it didn't come cheap. People would defer medical attention for as long as possible, deterred by the cost. [[note]]TruthInTelevision. When a British woman on holiday in New York lost her leg from the hip down in an horrific accident, the response in Britain noted she'd lost a leg - but focused on "poor cow, this happened in AMERICA. The Yanks are really going to rip her off with a massive bill. Six or seven figures? People were more horrified by the cost of American medicine, not the injury.[/note]]

# They may not know the person too well, and may feel that visiting them would be awkward or inappropriate.

* ''ComicBook/IKillGiants'': As part of the MaybeMagicMaybeMundane plot, Barbara perceives a shadowy monster residing in the second floor of her house and refuses to go up there for most of the story. [[spoiler: It eventually gets revealed that this "monster" is actually her terminally ill mother, who she's been too scared to visit. She fights the giants (either symbolically or literally) because she thinks they are responsible for the illness, representing her inability to accept her mothers death. After confronting the Titan, she finally goes up to see her.]]

* In one edition of ''[[Literature/ChickenSoupForTheSoul Chicken Soup for The Teenage Soul]]'', the story "Role Reversal" had a college-aged woman visit her mother, who was in a devastating car accident. After being briefed by the doctor of her injuries and her grandmother requesting her not to cry in her presence, she tries to visit with her mother, but the state of her and valid realization that she could die soon overwhelms her and she [[RunningAwayToCry runs out the room to cry]].

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

** After Jimmy returns to school in "Eye of the Tiger", it's discovered that his supposed best friend Spinner never once visited him in the hospital, citing a weak excuse of being busy. While he tries to make amends with him, he eventually confesses why he never visited; [[spoiler:he and Jay lied to Rick about a paint and feathers prank they pulled on him, saying it was Jimmy who did it and which caused him to get shot and subsequently paralyzed.]] The confession makes Jimmy and the rest of the school to turn on them and the both of them eventually getting expelled.

* Discussed in the Creator/{{Lifetime}} [=TV=] movie ''Hunger Point''; after Shelly's month-long hospital stay to treat her eating disorder, her overbearing mother argues with her distant father, who called her out on her treatment of her and older sister Frannie, that he never once visited her. [[spoiler:The stress from their hectic home life, coupled with her still untreated eating disorder and other mental issues, drives her to commit suicide that very night.]]

* ''Series/SavedByTheBellTheNewClass'': One episode has Rachel terrified to see her boyfriend, Ryan, whose was getting his appendix out due to [[FreudianExcuse being young and sick with tonsillitis as a child and losing her own beloved grandmother years earlier.]] When she tries to go into his hospital room to see him, they make eye contact (and he was happy to see her), and she initially runs away scared, but she soon gets the courage to be with him before the surgery.

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': The ending of [[Recap/HelluvaBossS2E4WesternEnergy Western Energy]] sees the [[spoiler: Stolas]] badly hurt and hospitalised following an abduction. In the aftermath, [[spoiler: Stolas]] has a brief text conversation with Blitzo, inviting Blitzo to visit him in the hospital where he expect to stay for some time. Still not past their mutual awkwardness following the disaster at Ozzie's and shocked that the NighInvulnerable [[spoiler: Stolas]] can get hurt, Blitzo begins to type a response but soon gives up, leaving [[spoiler: Stolas]] on read.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Shock Therapy". When disliked vice principal Mr. Bone is hospitalized for unknown reasons, Doug unintentionally gets roped into taking a get well card tree to him, and while he states that hospitals gives him the willies and he doesn't want to visit Mr. Bone, especially since he had no idea what he had, [[note]]understandable, as it may be contagious or just too much for a kid to handle; turns out, he was only getting a wart removed from his finger[[/note]] he goes to drop off the cards anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'': At the start of The Phoenix Saga, after Jean is taken to the hospital, Beast suggests he and Wolverine can visit her there. Wolverine says he doesn't care for hospitals, as the last time he was on an operating table, it didn't turn out so well, and pops his claws for emphasis.
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* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'': In "Home is Where The Heart Attack Is", Carlton initially is terrified of seeing his father after his heart attack over being afraid of seeing him with tubes up his nose. He does soon see him, especially since he was asking for him.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': When Dr. Cox's best friend (and ex-brother-in-law) gets lukemia, he is determined to stay positive. When Ben's test results come back and Cox realizes just how bad his odds of survival are, he gives up and decides to avoid Ben. He changes his mind eventually.

* Invoked in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' when Bruce Wayne visits Tim Drake in hospital after the Joker is defeated. It's treated as a big deal, as it represents his willingness to finally swallow his pride and reach out to his former sidekick [[note]]Tim had retired as Robin decades in the past, mostly due to the psychological wounds of being tortured into madness by the Joker and then killing the Clown Prince of Crime. Bruce being Bruce blamed himself for what happened, and cut off ties with Tim completely[[/note]]. Barbara Gordon, being the former Batgirl, is also present and both she and Drake immediately recognise the significance of Bruce's presence.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}'': In one scene, Barley talks about one of the few memories he has of his and Ian's father, Wilden, who died of a terminal illness. Barley mentions that as a kid, he tried to visit his dad in the hospital to say goodbye to him, but was too afraid to do so because of all the machines that Wilden was hooked up to. Unlike some of the other memories Barley has of his father, this is shown to be one that he's far more reluctant to talk about.

* Invoked in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' when Bruce Wayne visits Tim Drake in hospital after the Joker is defeated. It's treated as a bid deal, as it represents his willingness to finally swallow his pride and reach out to his former sidekick [[note]]Tim had retired as Robin decades in the past, mostly due to the psychological wounds of being tortured into madness by the Joker and then killing the Clown Prince of Crime. Bruce being Bruce blamed himself for what happened, and cut off ties with Tim completely[[/note]]. Barbara Gordon, being the former Batgirl, is also present and both she and Drake immediately recognise the significance of Bruce's presence.

* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'': After Jimmy returns to school in "Eye of the Tiger", it's discovered that his supposed best friend Spinner never once visited him in the hospital, citing a weak excuse of being busy. While he tries to make amends with him, he eventually confesses why he never visited; [[spoiler:he and Jay lied to Rick about a paint and feathers prank they pulled on him, saying it was Jimmy who did it and which caused him to get shot and subsequently paralyzed.]] The confession makes Jimmy and the rest of the school to turn on them and the both of them eventually getting expelled.