Twenty years ago, NY did not ban smoking in hospitals. My H's friend's aunt was in an oxygen tent and some idiot smuggled cigs in for her and she blew up - literally! At the wake, people actual said "she never looked better" after all the plastic surg needed to have an open casket.
When I first began working (1983), you could smoke anywhere. My first job out of school was at 2 World Trade Center and one woman smoked next to me even after I asked her to go somewhere else until I "accidentally" knocked the ashtray onto her seat and "accidentally" rubbed the ashes into her jacket sitting on the chair. She never spoke to me again but she also went elsewhere to smoke. She complained to my boss but he sided with me. At my next job, I had a private office with a door. People smoked in the common areas and in private offices but never in mine. Eventually, smoking was banned in public areas and one woman was fired after she continually went into my office to smoke (the rule was that people with cubicles could use private offices IF that office belonged to a smoker. This woman didn't want to walk down the hall to a smoker's room and I got fed up.) Next, smoking was banned in private offices so they moved into the stairwells. At this point, in Manhattan, you have to hold your breath as you approach an office building you plan to enter because the smokers are huddled in the doorways. There is also no smoking in bars or restaurants. I used to not be able to take my kids out to eat so for me, a smoking ban is good.
As for my house and car, it's not allowed. Actually, as I've gotten older, I've found that I have fewer and fewer friends who smoke. H's cousin, who's in a wheelchair, lived with us for many years. When he first moved in, he smoked and it was winter. We made him go outside to smoke. He eventually quit.
Mattsmom - I am NOT trying to be snarky, but I know someone who smoked with MS and she said her doctor told her to quit because it could aggravate her symptoms. I don't know if that's true or if her doctor just said it to give her some motivation to quit.