What is the importance of hospitals in the novel, A Gambler’s Anatomy?

Bruno is shown to be in a hospital at three different points in the novel: at the Berlin hospital called Charité after he collapses, in a hospital in San Francisco for his brain surgery, and in a hospital in Berkeley being treated for burns as an 11-year-old. These hospitals each act as sites of great transformation for Bruno. He first discovers his telepathic powers in the hospital as an 11-year-old, he is diagnosed with a severe tumor at the Charité, and his telepathic powers return to him after his operation at the hospital in San Francisco. Therefore, they seem to represent an inherent destruction and remaking of Bruno’s character.