Hospital orders ‘dignified’ shirts

A HOSPITAL in Nîmes has come up with a new line of patient nightshirts after claims that the usual gowns could leave people’s backsides on display.

An online petition against the normal nightshirts, that open down the back using poppers, has more than 13,000 signatures and has been backed by Health Minister Marisol Touraine.

The petition says they can partially open when someone moves, allowing other people see the patient’s posterior when they get out of bed, for example to walk down a corridor. The lower poppers also often remain open, it is said.

“We refuse to consider it normal that people should have to abandon their dignity just because they’ve been hospitalised,” says the petition by blogger and doctor “Farfadoc”.

Gowns are used instead of pyjamas to make it easier for medical personnel to examine or wash patients.

The minister says she is talking to her civil servants about the matter. In the meantime the CHU (teaching hospital) of Nîmes has taken the initiative by commissioning special gowns that close along the side.

The hospital has had a delivery of 7,000 and says it will replace all the old ones by the end of the year. “The two sides of cloth wrap over each other and even when there are movements the skin remains covered by the shirt,” the hospital says.

It has now sent an example of its “Nîmoise shirt” to the minister.
Photo: www.reseau-chu.org