President Obama has issued a Memorandum on "Respecting the Rights of Hospital Patients to Receive Visitors and to Designate Surrogate Decision Makers for Medical Emergencies." It is targeted directly at gays and lesbians who are barred from seeing loved ones in hospitals.
"Also uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives -- unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated."
The President requests executive agencies to initiate appropriate rulemaking to 1) "Ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors,"
2) "Ensure that those hospitals comply with existing federal rules regarding acceptance of powers of attorney and advance directives," and
3) Make recommendations for other appripriate regulations.
This Memorandum does not create any new substantive rights, but it is a giant step in the right direction.
Here is Anderson Cooper talking to Janice Langbern who was barred from seeing her partner of 17 years, Lisa Pond, when she was dying in a Miami hospital in 2007.
As the husband of a disabled man in Texas, I am very grateful.
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