No idea but quite likely they should ... at some point the local and global slendernesses would turn the practical members quite precarious in strength terms.
In California hospitals, you need to be able to justify whatever size is specified. OSHPD also has preapproved partition wall details for typical conditions, [URL unfurl="true"]http://www.oshpd.ca.gov/FDD/Pre-Approval/index.html[/url]. They do not mandate using the preapproved details. They are fairly new. OSHPD has a structural engineer review partition details during plan check (on every project that I have worked on).
I’d rather see heavier gauges than doubling studs all over the place or using a bazillion screws to anchor equipment and backing. I would not be afraid to ask the architect to specify 16 gage studs; they are fairly common in California hospitals.
