Why do hospitals bare butts when there are better gowns around?

Every decade or so, the headlines reappear:

“Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley updates hospital wear for patients” (United Press International, June 1999)

“Diane von Furstenberg Redesigns the Hospital Gown” (GOOD, September 2010)

“The Hospital Gown Gets a Modest Redesign” (The New York Times, January 2018)

Each redesign, of course, targets the old-school, butt-baring gown that’s long been a touchstone of cultural commiseration in movies, TV, and comic strips.

But if everyone agrees that the old garments are horrible, and if fashion designers — working with doctors and nurses, no less — have created better gowns, why are we still having this conversation?

The higher cost of new gowns is a big reason why many hospitals still use traditional tie-in-the-back johnnies. In addition, some fans of the old design think the new versions aren’t patient-friendly enough, and the standard ones are just fine; they’re convenient and functional, giving easy access to parts of the body clinicians need to poke and prod.

“There’s now an effort to be more patient-centric, but really it’s the institutional