4/16/2010
"President Obama handed same-sex couples a victory without picking a drawn-out fight with conservatives this week when he ordered hospitals around the country to honor patients' wishes about who may visit their sickbeds or risk losing Medicaid and Medicare money.
President Barack Obama called Janice Langbehn from Air Force One to personally let her know that he has signed a memorandum that will have an impact on the special health care needs of LGBT people and families.
"Jackson Memorial Hospital should have been able to provide immediate resources to Janice Langbehn when she wasn't allowed to be with her partner Lisa hour after hour as she lay dying in the hospital. We don't want the Langbehn-Pond nightmare to happen to another family."
"Several nurses at Jackson Memorial Hospital have personally apologized to Janice Langbehn, a lesbian from Washington state who said that a Jackson social worker wouldn't allow her to be with her dying partner in 2007.
