Coughing in movies

Shelly and I went to see a movie last week. I won't even tell you which one, so this won't be a spoiler, but one of the characters coughs. I almost broke out laughing, because no one ever coughs in a movie, and of course we knew immediately that this character would die of tuberculosis. People cough all the time in real life, esp. noticeable in movie theaters, of course, but never ever in a movie unless it's part of the plot. Yet another thing I find hokey about movies.