In the 1950s, selling cigarettes inside hospitals was routine. Staff regularly pushed carts from room to room, offering packs and cartons of cigarettes alongside magazines and snacks. Patients could smoke in their beds, and smoking was common in hospital rooms, hallways, waiting areas, and even nurses’ stations.
At the time, tobacco was not yet widely recognized as dangerous. Some doctors believed smoking helped calm nerves or ease discomfort, and unfiltered brands like Camel, Lucky Strike, Chesterfield, and Philip Morris were everywhere. Nurses and physicians often smoked while working, including during shifts and patient reports.
This practice reflected an era when cigarettes were fully integrated into daily life, even in healthcare settings, before mounting evidence and later warnings from the United States Surgeon General fundamentally changed how smoking was viewed.