For shorter hospitalizations, I can understand maybe wanting some privacy and not to have many/any visitors. In longer stays, though, as the months march on, loneliness and isolation can become a real problem. My longest hospitalizations was considerably longer than a year and virtually no one visited. I felt forgotten, unloved, and unwanted. Like a piece of garbage discarded. We have invisible diseases that do not show up on any CAT scan. A substantial number of people do, in fact, actually blame us for our diseases. Like, if we were just 'stronger,' none of this would have ever happened. Maybe some day that will change.