Obama orders Same-Sex Hospital Visits

[TwylaTwobits]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36580493


President Obama mandated Thursday that nearly all hospitals extend visitation rights to the partners of gay men and lesbians and respect patients' choices about who may make critical health-care decisions for them, perhaps the most significant step so far in his efforts to expand the rights of gay Americans.

The president directed the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation in a memo that was e-mailed to reporters Thursday night while he was at a fundraiser in Miami.

Administration officials and gay activists, who have been quietly working together on the issue, said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, a move that covers the vast majority of the nation's health-care institutions. Obama's order will start a rule-making process at HHS that could take several months, officials said.

[12voltman59]

I was gonna post up the same story----thanks.

I think this is a good thing---but you can be sure that Obama doing this is gonna make some folks go ballistic!!

[TwylaTwobits]

I was gonna post up the same story----thanks.

I think this is a good thing---but you can be sure that Obama doing this is gonna make some folks go ballistic!!

Yw and ummm he doesn't already???? *Cheeky grin* :cool:

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Yet in all American states you can't get married or have a civil union and you can't serve in your homophobic military


And your thesis statement here Is?
Cat

[FalconAngel]

Heard about this in the news last night.

Just remember that any progress is good; a step in the right direction is still going in the right direction.

[12voltman59]

I didn't look for the story online--but I saw an interview early this morning on CNN with the partner of the woman who got sick and was denied seeing her by officials in a hospital in Jacksonville Florida until literally the moment the woman died---they had all the legal documents done back in their home state up north someplace that gave each other the legal right to be with each other in such an instance--and they had the papers---the partner showed them to hospital officials and they still denied her access to her now dying partner----she had to get her lawyer to get an emergency court order to force the hospital to allow her to see her partner--as she was being given last rights and was barely able to recognize her.

They were down in Florida for a pleasure trip and they said they had both had been having health issues so they made sure they had all their documents on the trip for each other should one or the other have a sudden crash, heading for death. They knew that Florida can prevent gay partners from seeing each other in such instances. Those documents gave each other whatver power that needs to be bestowed to one another to be present in such circumstances but those hospital people totally refused to follow what those legal documents clearly stated and require them to do!!!!!!!!

Something related to this in some ways--I had heard today that another state someplace put into effect--a law that allows health providers to go against the direct and expressed wishes of someone who says to not put them on things like life support systems or simply let them die should doing those things violates the beliefs of those doctors and such!!!

This comes from the situation of Terry Schiavo----and talk about rightwing bullshit with about their bitching about "death panels" the government telling you what do and such-----the governments of some states are allowing doctors to not follow the dictates of their patients who don't want extraordinary efforts to keep them alive----but the Obama administration is going to put out an order to require hospitals and other health care providers to follow the dictates of patients regarding end of life issues-- if they fail to do so, they will not get paid for Medicare and Medicaide.

I also think its BS that some states now allow pharmacists who don't believe in "abortion" to refuse to fill prescriptions that a woman's doctor has written for drugs like "the morning after pill" and such.

Who the fuck are those peckerwoods to decide that a woman should not have the right to have access to such medicines???----if they are going to have that God-like power--then I'd say those motherfuckers should have to chip in a few hundred grand or so to each woman they refuse to give those meds to if the women get preggers and have those kids as a result!!!

[TwylaTwobits]

Volt, someone with an advanced directive or a living will, those are legal and that state will be found to be in several violations the first time that happens. And they think letting a partner go naturally is bad, wait til they are forced to remove a feeding tube or turn a machine off because they acted against the wishes of their partner. And even worse....to know the partner is aware of what they have done and had to fight for their own right to live or die naturally? Should the partner survive...what will that do to the relationship? What will a complete denial of a person's thoughts and feelings do to a trust that is necessary? The Terry Schiavo case was extremely sad but it was the husband fighting for the wishes of his wife against her parents who couldn't bear to see her go.

All in all any time a person is in a life or death situation and there is a chance for the partner to be there, they should be allowed to be there. Taking over decisions that are completely against a partner's known wishes, however, is a right I want to very much see denied.

[mikey3000]

I cannot wrap my head around the notion that a same sex partner is not allowed to visit their loved one in the hospital. I have never heard of that. How can they stop them? Is there a law that prevents them? Can't anyone go visit anyone in the hospital? Even in intensive care or accute care, I had visitors, friends come see me. Who gives the hospital the right to prevent anyone from going? Often I've seen a gay man sit with his partner in the chemo treatment rooms here in Canada. Can someone explain this to me please?

[TwylaTwobits]

Mikey, here in the US there is now a law thanks to Obama that gives same-sex partners the right to visit someone in the hospital. Previously hospitals only allowed immediate family and with some states not recognizing the marriage then it was like nothing more than a friend who wanted to be where immediate family was allowed. It's unfair, vastly unfair, but it's gonna be changed now.

[Annika L]

I cannot properly express how happy and grateful I am that this has been done.

Yes, Obama is risking a lot...he's already risked a lot, he's continuing to do so, and it's conceivable it could cost him re-election. But damn. He's risking for causes I consider worthy.

If people are gonna get upset because I now have the right to visit my partner of nearly 24 years in the hospital...fuck 'em.

[Jackal]

If people are gonna get upset because I now have the right to visit my partner of nearly 24 years in the hospital...fuck 'em.

That needs to be a bumper sticker. It says all that needs to be said.