article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Whether a patient is in the hospital for an organ transplant, an appendectomy or to have a baby, one complaint is common: the gown.
article_snippet.sent: the one might as well have been stitched together with paper towels and duct tape, and the one usually leaves the wearer's behind hanging out.
article_snippet.sent: You're at the hospital because something's wrong with you --  you're vulnerable -- then you get to wear the most vulnerable garment ever invented to make the whole experience that much worse," said Ted Streuli, who lives in Edmond, Okla., and has had to wear hospital gowns on multiple occasions.
article_snippet.sent: Md. Hospital gowns are among the most vexing parts of being in the hospital.
article_snippet.sent: What patients wear needs to be comfortable yet allow health professionals proper access during exams, meaning it must open and close easily.
article_snippet.sent: After Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, N.J., switched to pajamas and gowns that provide extra coverage, costs went up $70,000 per year, said Leonard Guglielmo, the facility's chief supply chain officer, because the new garments cost more to buy and maintain.
article_snippet.sent: Beyond cost, more ingrained cultural expectations might also play a role in what hospitals think patients should wear, said Todd Lee, an assistant professor of medicine at McGill University, who co-authored a 2014 study in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, examining whether gowns were important and whether patients might be fine wearing patients own or hospital-provided pants, instead of or along with gowns.
article_snippet.sent: Often, doctors reported that pants or undergarments beneath gowns would have been okay, but patients said patients were never given those options.
article_snippet.sent: Traditional gowns make it easier to examine patients quickly, and several doctors Lee spoke to seemed shocked at the idea that patients might wear garments other than the open-backed gown during patients stay.
highlights_snippet.sent: What patients wear needs to be comfortable yet allow health professionals access during exams .
  