WASHINGTON – In a move hailed as a step toward fairness for same-sex couples, President Barack Obama is ordering that nearly all hospitals allow patients to say who has visitation rights and who can help make medical decisions, including gay and lesbian partners.

The White House on Thursday released a statement by Obama instructing his Health and Human Services secretary to draft rules requiring hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments to grant all patients the right to designate people who can visit and consult with them at crucial moments.

The designated visitors should have the same rights that immediate family members now enjoy, Obama's instructions said. It said Medicare-Medicaid hospitals, which include most of the nation's facilities, may not deny visitation and consultation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

The move was called a major step toward fairness for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.


read more athttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_bi_ge/us_obama_hospital_patients


THIS is the beginning of the CIVIL actions that I have always thought to be logical,, rather than re arranging the institution of marriage. Good for people who love people!(regardless of sexual labels).

How ... umm ... 'thoughtful' of him. I suppose there were never any of those 'crass political calculations' that 'OTHER' (say 'Republican') Presidents would have been accused of making, though ... ? After all, we're talking about 'The ONE' here ... he's ... umm ... 'special'.

excuse me for missing your point,,,

Here's the memorandum:

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/15/2010rightspatients.mem.final.rel.pdf


This was long overdue.

Now if he would fix it so anyone could marry anyone. I've never understood why anyone would be against that. Homosexuals should have the right to be as miserable as the rest of us.

Y'know, I get the feeling Obama could fart gold, give it to needy people, and you'd still find something critical to say.

...But this isn't the first time a president has used Medicare funding to expand access to hospitals.

When President Johnson signed Medicare into law in 1965, many hospitals were racially segregated. That new law said hospitals that received federal Medicare dollars would have to integrate. Initially there was strong resistance, but within a year of Medicare's beginning, the desegregation of the nation's hospitals was essentially complete.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126034014

Honestly! there are bigger problems to face rather than everyone being led around their noses by finer details and minor political issues. First and foremost of all, if we just allow change for the sake of change without thinking things through you get massive overcompensation. We do not need a repeat of affirmative action ESPECIALLY when a quotas system of any kind is imposed in medicine or industry.

This move is a diversion from the real problem we are facing. In all honesty Obama has yet to do ANYTHING of real consequence other than REALLY BAD THINGS.

Have you even seen the statistics of Obama's little TARP give away? How many people actually got loan modifications? The highest number I heard was 21% but so far I have seen the number around 14% floating around a lot. How many BILLIONS were given to banks and lenders and what did the American taxpayer get out of it in return? Next to nothing. I have a friend living in the shadow of that mess. Does Obama even have a plan to get us out of Afghanistan? Negotiations with a group who will use a nuclear weapon on us given the chance? NO. Has he made move one towards financial responsibility or spend time poffering to Business trying to stimulate the economy?

Lead us not into temptation. What, suddenly we are just going to Vote our national and personal debts away? It doesn't work that way. globally the system has been conforming to the equality rights of Homosexuals but they keep reaching for more and more and eventually we will have a repeat of Affirmative Action in a new disguise. It is the minority of hospitals with their dated policies that need to be addressed. this whole "Obama has come to the aid of homosexual couples," rah rah is nothing but B.S. and glorifying a failing president who has done nothing but cater to big business and political ends.

Groovy, same sex couples can visit each other in hospitals. So what about the bigger picture? How about the sudden increase in insurance premiums thanks to Obama? How about the malaise that is now sweeping the medical community? Yeah they are getting more money taken from them but who is profiting from this? Lawyers and insurance companies. Not the doctors.

Look, I am all for total equality. I am WHOLLY against Affirmative Action and legitimized discrimination and reverse racism. I got gay friends. I really could care less what they do behind closed doors. But in all honesty this is like a small skirmish in some piss hole nowhere town verses Stalingrad burning and the Germans are at the gate! It also is like Nero when he fiddled while Rome burned.

This is not what I would call earth shattering news. Earth Shattering would be Obama finally pulling his mulatto head out of his aZZ and coming clean with America about the whole mess we are in. Earth Shattering would be him demanding financial responsibility from congress.


Gay rights...

Sheet, that is being beaten into the ground.

Sorry if I seem a little bit of a mood but America is being destroyed from within and this is an example of issues we are so concerned with while Congress just screws up more and more?

Now this just really boosted my day in faith of humanity! Hopes aren't high for results, but seeing an attempt is awesome ^_^ Come on equality in all things! *patiently waiting for insurance equality to be added to the list, out of pocket everything is rough!*

insurance equality? out of pocket everything...

clarify your remarks if you don't mind..

I don't want to make assumptions...lol

Im trans and were on the ever shrinking list of countries that thinks its cosmetic and not a repairing defect. So what could be $10 meds is full price $100+ every months. the companies with a large copay then coverage usually covers us, but ugh im poor enough haha! good times! ^_^

The actual surgery itself is considered elective, is it not?

marriage is an institution built on and promoted for the foundation of society. The male female union is the union upon which life is founded and maintained. There is NO reason to expand upon its definitions.

Its not uncommon for leverage to be used to pass policies and laws. It is similar to the statewide insurance laws. Those states receiving highway funds(all of them) had to ensure drivers had insurance in order to receive the funds...it works

Every time I ever went to a hospital anyone could just walk into a room and talk to a patient.I am not sure if there was any reason to bring this up other than to tell people what they already know when visiting a hospital.Maybe he was talking about end of life discisions.Either way I think anyone should be able to see anyone in a hospital as long as the patient agrees to it.

Honestly, I dont see why people belittle others when it comes to personal priorities. I suspect to someone who is not a minority or a homsexual, the REAL issues they deal with would seem insignificant. This is about more than being permitted to 'visit' it is about the path to being given the rights to make medical decisions without need of ATTORNEYS and lawyers fees.


Should people not care about ANY issue besides healthcare,, should NO other type of progress be attempted? What kind of shallow box would that leave this country in?

Because an issue is not top on my list doesnt mean it isnt or shouldnt be given significant attention for those who DO have it at the top of their list. AFfirmative Action policies are a good thing, misuse of policies is not. Painting it all with the same brush is intellectually dishonest.

most hospitals have 'visiting hours' which are open to anyone. After visiting hours usually only immediate biological or marital family are permitted. homosexuals who wish to see their loved ones after hours or even stay with them through the night,, are pretty much shut out,,until now.

...Dr. Jason Schneider, former president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, said that unless a hospital has a formal policy allowing same-sex visitations, gay couples can run into trouble.

"One person in a hospital can make a huge difference -- a security guard, a front desk clerk looking at a same-sex partner and saying, 'You don't have any right to go back there,' " Schneider said. "So I think this directive gives weight to the importance of recognizing the variety and the breadth of how people define families."

The memo also applies beyond same-sex couples.

It says a patient can name anyone to be a surrogate decision-maker, including a friend or a distant relative.

It also says hospitals must follow patients' advance directives, no matter who the patient designates as a surrogate in a medical emergency.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126034014

I am in total agreement with you on the Gay issue!