from the land of Anita Bryant:

Hospital Sued After Dying Lesbian's Partner Denied Access To Her

by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Miami, Florida) A lawsuit will be filed in Miami Wednesday against a hospital that refused to allow the partner of a dying lesbian to see because they were not considered family.

...

Langbehn and Lisa Pond had planned to take their three children on a family cruise. The Olympia, Washington couple had been together 18 years and with their children were looking forward to the holiday.

But just as they were about to depart on the cruise from Miami, Florida. Pond, a healthy 39-year-old, suddenly collapsed. She was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with Langbehn and the children following close behind.

Once Langbehn and the children arrived at the hospital the hospital refused to accept information from her about Ponds’s medical history.

Langbehn says she was informed that she was in an antigay city and state, and she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family.

A doctor finally spoke with Janice telling her that there was no chance of recovery.

Other than one five minute visit, which was orchestrated by a Catholic priest at Langbehn’s request to perform last rites, and despite the doctor’s acknowledgement that no medical reason existed to prevent visitation, neither she nor her children were allowed to see Pond until nearly eight hours after their arrival.

Soon after Pond'’s death, Langbehn tried to get her death certificate in order to get life insurance and Social Security benefits for their children. She was denied both by the State of Florida and the Dade County Medical Examiner.

How terrible. Poor darlings. But thank God that they are being brave and are fighting, for the future,for others. So many people can't after such injustice because they are so devastated by grief

Pardon my language, but fuck those motherfucking assholes. Fuck them. What the hell kind of asshole keeps a dying woman's partner from visiting her on her deathbed?

The righteous ones?

Self-righteous, anyway :)

:-) something like that. They have always been there and no doubt always will be. Harder than steel.

Exactly why contracts etc are not an adequate substitute for marriage (or at least a virtual analogue to it) for homosexual partners.

Had this happened back home in Olympia, the local hospitals probably would have not had a problem, but in Florida, and likely many other places, this is the result.

Raises the question of how they would have treated the couple had they been from California or Massachusetts and been legally married in one of those states.

Of course if the Democratic justices on WA's Supreme Court weren't such cowardly bigots, they could have been legally married in WA a year ago.

That slimeball Chief Justice of yours needs to be kicked out

Of course if the Democratic justices on WA's Supreme Court weren't such cowardly bigots, they could have been legally married in WA a year ago.

Agreed. That still makes me angry.

This sort of thing is what irks me when idiots say, "But they can get a civil union, file paperwork, etc.... so why do they need to get married?"

I'll keep my fingers crossed when we get to vote on it in November. I'm hoping that the combination of people who don't like gay marriage but opposed amending the constitution and the number of people who financially benefit from the tourism/wedding industry boost kills the amendment on arrival.

Agreed. That still makes me angry.

Same here!

Despite the religious mumbo-jumbo debate; from a legal standpoint, marriage is a contract -- nothing more. I don't understand why gay couples won't be bothered to enter into a legal contract that is equivalent to marriage regarding these issues.

To argue over using the name "marriage" just seems silly and irrational to me. I also have a hard time understanding why gay people want to belong to religions that specifically exclude them based on their sexual preference.

I can understand why gay couples want to have equal tax code status, but that is not a debate that I hear much of. It seems as if people on both sides of the debate are dancing around the real issues and instead concentrating their arguments on emotional appeals.

If "Civil Union" provides all of the benefits of marriage, then what's wrong with it? Rather than arguing against it, why not accept it as a compromise along the way until society evolves beyond it's "yuck factor" toward homosexuality? That is obviously the direction in which we are moving. It's a generational thing. It takes time.

After reading what I just posted, I want to add that I do not oppose gay marriage whatsoever. I just find the militant rejection of Civil Union irrational. It seems like a reasonable compromise to me.

Also, it appears to me that these ladies could have avoided this situation with a relatively simple legal contract. Is that not the case? Any legal experts out there? I would think that hospitals do have reasonable cause to limit access to their patients while in treatment.

Point is that in this case, the basis for the partner not being allowed visitation etc was based on their not being married. A fucking contract (no pun intended) wouldn't have anything to do with that.

Provide assurance that a civil union would in fact result in partners actually having the same rights (not just some of them), including rights to make medical etc decisions for partners, rights that all states are required to respect, and I will consider supporting that.

Or, as several of us have suggested, strip all legal standing from marriage, so only civil partnerships have legal standing, regardless of genders of the participants.

"Or, as several of us have suggested, strip all legal standing from marriage, so only civil partnerships have legal standing, regardless of genders of the participants."

I could vote for that. I'm married, but I'm not married to the word "marriage".

I have read and seen lawyers on television programs assert that contracts can be drawn up to protect visitation and inheritance rights for gay or heterosexual couples that choose not to become married. Is that not true?