The Surprising Reason American Hospitals Began Banning Smoking In The 1960s
After having provided ash trays and sold cigarettes for years, hoispitals suddenly started banning such activity — and it wasn’t for the reason one might think
There are many things in everyday life that are bad for us. One of the most widely recognized in this category is smoking cigarettes. However, it was barely 50 years ago that American hospitals sold cigarettes to patients, including nurses having patients buy them directly from their beds.
Cigarettes became so popular in the United States that at one point more adults smoked than those who did not. At the high point, 54% of self-reporting adults acknowledged being smokers in a 1954 survey. Since then, the numbers have continued to go down, with only 12.5% of adults still claiming smoker status in 2020.
The decline in smoking numbers have coincided with increasing information being discovered and released to the public about the health dangers of the habit. However, before that time, it was something embraced by hospitals and medical staff.
Medical professionals were even used as marketing fodder by some tobacco companies. One 1932 Camel print ad depicted a young nurse smoking a…
