You raise such an interest point and one that I think would make for a great debate. When we first think of sickness and disease my initial thought goes to isolation. Get that person isolated and try to contain whatever it is. We just had this situation in our house. We are a family of 8 people here and one of our daughters got sick with the flu. We immediately isolated ehr to her bedroom and even quarantined a bathroom just for her. She was extremely ill and basically bed ridden for several days. Fortunately, our efforts worked and nobody else was sick. Your point about putting all the sick people together and its actual value is a very interesting thought. Any hospital I have ever been in , although they may try, does not give the impression that illnesses are being contained. People are being treated but not necessarily isolated and quarantined. How can we expect the illness not to spread if people are constantly in contact with the patient and these patients are in contact with other illnesses.
It seems as though the convenience factor you bring up might be a reason for hospitals. It wouldn't seem feasible to have these people scattered all over and have care workers try to help them.
As far as the mental illness side of things, I think the issue has always been there but we as a society are just now starting to recognize that those people who we once thought of as strange or off are actually dealing with issues and need help. I think it is quite possible that these issues could be exacerbated in a setting where they are surrounded by other illnesses and behaviours. Same problem arises though. Where do we locate all these people who are so desperately in need of care and families are unable to provide it for them at home.
Very thought provoking post. Made me think about something I think we all kind of push under the rug and that is a bad idea because this problem is only going to grow exponentially as our baby boomers are heading into their senior years and more and more young people are being diagnosed with mental illnesses.