Hospitals across the country have installed bedside television meters that bill patients by the minute, whether the screen is on or not, and patients who drift off during a documentary wake to find the counter still ticking.
The meters, bolted to every bed rail, begin charging the moment a patient is admitted and do not stop until discharge. A hospital administrator defended the system as «a fair and transparent way to fund entertainment infrastructure», adding that «patients who choose not to watch are still receiving the benefit of having the option available».
One patient, three weeks into a stay for a fractured hip, described watching her bill climb past four hundred euros while the television played to an empty room. «I was asleep for most of it,» she said. «But the meter doesn't care if you're awake. It just keeps going.»
Families have begun unplugging the sets at night, only to find the meters continue running on an internal battery. A hospital spokesperson confirmed that «the device is designed to function independently of the television's power state», and that «unplugging constitutes tampering with hospital property».
By the end of the month, the hospital plans to install a second meter for the radio.