Congrats on the upcoming baby - we had our third this summer in Austin (our other two were born at Swedish) but just missed the wi-fi deployment that happened at the Seton chain of hospitals in October. Interesting to note in the press release that they claim to be "the largest provider in Austin of free public wireless Internet access by a private organization." Not sure how you would contest that claim (or prove it), but thought it interesting.

*Seton Now Offers Free Wireless Internet Access to Patients, Families and Friends - Austin, TX (October 24, 2006)
http://www.seton.net/about_seton/news/2006/10/24/seton_now_offers_free_wireless_internet_access_to_patients_families_and_friends

In Germany, most hospitals still struggle with letting patients and visitors use cell phones. No problem for them on the other hand to have a handful of cellular antennas on their roof tops though... I ran a quick search on Google to see if I could come up with Wifi in German hospitals and found at least two. Both not free though. Nevertheless, it's a start. Thanks for posting.

A newly-built hospital in a neighboring town (Orange City, IA) offers free Wi-Fi in its birthing wing, but I'm not sure about floor-to-floor.

In Germany, most hospitals still struggle with letting patients and visitors use cell phones. No problem for them on the other hand to have a handful of cellular antennas on their roof tops though... I ran a quick search on Google to see if I could come up with Wifi in German hospitals and found at least two. Both not free though. Nevertheless, it's a start. Thanks for posting.

Here in St. Paul, the HealthPartners HMO offers free Wi-Fi in its vast specialty clinic on downtown's outskirts -- but you can't use it until you go to the reception desk until you get the sign-on password of the day.