Obama Orders Hospitals To Allow Same-Sex Visitation Rights

Posted by | April 15, 2010 20:12 | Filed under: Top Stories


President Obama signed a memorandum ordering hospitals to allow same-sex couples visitation rights in hospitals and to allow same-sex partners to have power of attorney.

An official said the new rule will affect any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding.

The decision injects the president squarely into the debate over gay marriage by attempting to end the common practice by many hospitals of insisting that only family members by blood or marriage be allowed to visit patients.

Sexual orientation or gender identity will no longer be an impediment to those who wish to see loved ones.

“Every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides whether in a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged hospital stay,” Obama says in the memo.

Affected, he said, are “gay and lesbian American 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.”

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Copyright 2010 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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