Why are hospital outlets upside down?

Hospital outlets are often installed upside down as a safety measure. Placing the electrical sockets in this orientation helps to prevent debris, and other foreign objects from falling into them and potentially causing a short circuit. Additionally, having the ground prong facing upwards reduces the risk of electrical shocks, as any electrical current will travel to the ground rather than to a person or object that comes into contact with the socket. This design is just one of many precautions that hospitals take to ensure the safety of their patients, staff, and visitors.
Ole wise tails say they are installed Wrong side up now because it looks more like a happy face.

[@Montechy]

They were flipped to ensure the ground that protects users of appliances by making sure the ground is always connected should the cord be partially angled to disconnect the top of the plug. With the ground on top the first conductor that will get disconnected should the plug partially fall oit would be the ground. Leaving the cord live with no ground protection on the appliance to protect the user.

[@manny_f]

That looks sketchy AF, either way up to be honest. That said, I can think of one valid reason for wanting the two flat prongs at the top: gravity pulls down on the cord, so you want as many friction points above it to prevent it from falling out of the socket, i.e., two prongs vs one earth prong. The other problem here is that US cables need to be twice as thick because they carry twice the amount of electrical current than in countries where mains voltage is 230 V, which only exacerbates the problem since cables will be heavier. The safest plug is undeniably the ridiculously over-engineered UK plug.

[@jpcaretta8847]

Indeed junk like the inch, miles, lbs....