Apr 16, 2010 -- 12:17PM, rocketjsquirell wrote:

The sad thing is that an executive order like this was necessary in the first place. Aren't hospitals supposed to be places of healing? Isn't being supported by loved ones part of the healing process?

You do sadly have a point.

Apr 15, 2010 -- 10:51PM, Erey wrote:

I don't know, would this be an empty gesture?  I am not for anyone having thier life partner excluded from a hospital.

 

Without a wedding or some other form of legal partnership how can you prove that this man is without a doubt the life partner of this man?  See what i mean?  

So heterosexual people lying in a coma or in a state of semi-conciousness are protected from scam artists and inappropriate meddling but homosexual people are vunerable. 

Then you are stuck with say the sister or mother of the dying gay man saying "no, this man has not been in a relationship with my brother/son for two years now.  he can't possibly speak for my brother/son".  How can you tell who is lying and who is telling the truth without some formal partnership like a marriage or a civil marriage?

So without the beneifit of a formal and legal partnership  the gay person would have already needed to grant the spouse power of attorney while they were still of sound mind and body and not after the accident or the total collapse of health and reasoning.  Which I guess could have happened all along but often people don't think ahead. 

 

 

I don't think it's an empty gesture.  The main provision reads:

"Initiate appropriate rulemaking, pursuant to your authority under 42 U.S.C. 1395x and other relevant provisions of law, to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors. It should be made clear that designated visitors, including individuals designated by legally valid advance directives (such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies), should enjoy visitation privileges that are no more restrictive than those that immediate family members enjoy. You should also provide that participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. The rulemaking should take into account the need for hospitals to restrict visitation in medically appropriate circumstances as well as the clinical decisions that medical professionals make about a patient's care or treatment."

The whole memorandum is here:

www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/pres...

This paragraph addresses several key points.

- A hospitalized individual has the right to designate visitors who are not related by blood or marriage to receive the same level of visitation priviledges accorded as a matter of course to family members.

- Valid advanced directives must be accepted as a designation of visitation rights.

- Visitation may NOT be restricted based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Many hospitals have maintained a basic policy of limiting visitation to family only in order to maintain patient privacy and protect patients from harrassment. In many cases this works well, but when the people closest to a patient don't fit the hospital's definition of "family", the results can be tragic. This isn't a problem that affects only gays and lesbians - the memorandum mentions several classes of people, including members of religious orders - but the gay and lesbian community is disproportionately affected.

This memorandum makes it clear that patient directives trump hospital policy when it comes to who is allowed to visit. It also clearly states that discrimination  in visitor access will not be tolerated. I think it's a big step, and a good one.

La

Apr 18, 2010 -- 6:42AM, sydneymoon wrote:

Apr 16, 2010 -- 12:17PM, rocketjsquirell wrote:

The sad thing is that an executive order like this was necessary in the first place. Aren't hospitals supposed to be places of healing? Isn't being supported by loved ones part of the healing process?

Applause. It is hard to understand why this took so long.

It's not "hard to understand" at all. It's because of concerted efforts by the radical religious rightwing to exclude gay people from ever participating FULLY in society as equal citizens. It is due almost entirely to their efforts to have their own particular religious beliefs rammed down the throats of all citizens, many of whom are not of the RRR persuasion.

Apr 18, 2010 -- 1:54PM, Do_unto_others wrote:

Apr 18, 2010 -- 6:42AM, sydneymoon wrote:

Applause. It is hard to understand why this took so long.

It's not "hard to understand" at all. It's because of concerted efforts by the radical religious rightwing to exclude gay people from ever participating FULLY in society as equal citizens. It is due almost entirely to their efforts to have their own particular religious beliefs rammed down the throats of all citizens, many of whom are not of the RRR persuasion.

Yes, that I do understand. That's not really what I meant. That folks are so consumed with hate is hard for me to understand.