How is it that one of the most incredibly important and far-reaching new health policies of the twenty-first century went into effect this past week, and you probably haven't heard of it?
I'm referring to the new guidelines that protect the rights of all patients at more than 6,000 hospitals participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to put anyone they choose on their visitation list. Despite the fact that this policy has implications for everyone in the United States, it's been underreported overall and misreported by straight mainstream media as a same-sex partners story.
This is real, people. Bravo if you've been lucky enough to be spared the experience that many of us have had, queer or not, of being barred from a loved one's hospital bedside because you're not "family," or tossed out when family visiting hours are over. But it's unforgettable, demoralizing, infuriating. Not being there for the person you love when they're sick, vulnerable, or just plain lonely makes you feel like you've failed them in the worst way possible. You just want to pick up the nurse's station and heave it.
We're not just talking about LGBT people or partners here, though the hospital visitation issue allegedly first came to President Obama's attention via the horrifying story of Janice Langbehn and her partner, Lisa Pond. Unlike most Americans, they had actually taken the important step of signing an Advanced Healthcare Directive; theirs designated Janice as Lisa's legal representative. It didn't matter.