The Washington Post is reporting:
"President Obama Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney.
The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo is scheduled to be made public Friday morning, according to an administration official and another source familiar with the White House decision.
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.
Gay activists have argued for years that recognizing gay marriages would ease the emotional pain associated with not being able to visit their partners during a health crisis.
By contrast, opponents of gay marriage have said the visitation issue is a red herring, and have argued that advocates want to provide special rights for gays and lesbians that others do not have.
The memorandum from Obama to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, made public late Thursday night, orders new rules that would ensure hospitals "respect the rights of patients to designate visitors."
hey man, this is a site for cogent discussions of current issues....you're probably looking for the site for incoherent ramblings and factless rants.
But hey, feel free to get bent on your way out...
John appears to be twenty pounds of crazy in a ten pound sack
Another example where one class of people have to be protected by LAW because *conservatives* (those *small government* liars) need to peek into other people's bedrooms and bully them to the *conservatives* whim. It doesn't matter WHAT the issue is *conservatives* should learn to stop being busy bodies and have enough respect for your fellow citizens to MYOB. If EVERYONE would just MYOB, this country would be so much more enjoyable!
If you don't like or think homosexual sex is wrong- don't do it!
If you don't like homosexual relationships or think them immoral - don't have one!
If you don't like abortion or think it immoral - don't have one!
If you don't like inter-racial relationships or think them immoral - don't have one.
If you don't like the muslim religion or the way other Christians believe or the lack of faith of someone or the different faith of another - MYOB and practice your faith or lack of it YOUR way and leave other people ALONE to do the same.
Why didn't you *conservatives* learn this shit in kindergarten when the rest of us did?
The problem, John, is the stereotyping of classes of people, including "liberals". Your asinine examples of the supposedly slippery slope, basically calling gays "sick and immoral" since you obviously believe that being gay is some form of choice versus a part of the human condition. Equating being gay with "rape while sleeping" is not only absurd, it's a false comparison (the common argument of conservatives i.e. "If you are against the invasion of Iraq, you are un-American and hate the troops").
I would suggest you take a few diversity classes. Maybe volunteer in a homeless shelter or food bank to learn about the plight of your fellow man. One thing you really need to do, however, is get down off your high horse and put down the brick you were going to throw through my window.
Today many thinks it's "cool" to be liberal. The true liberals are more educated than these fools I speak of. So please, true and educated Liberals, I respect your vision and mean no insult, but these followers must be put down. Minorities only keep going because they are fueled by many who blindly fuel them because it is "liberal and cool", and not "being a conservative square". Soon enough, people suffering from "sexsomnia" will not be charged for raping people in their sleep. "It is not their fault they are sick! We cannot lock them up this is unfair! Blah blah blah let's let them keep raping, because at least we won't lock them up and infringe on human rights!" If you truly believe that you will go this far, think again. How has our society progressed? What was once "sick" and "immoral" is now "acceptable" and perhaps even "cool". What's to say that the aforementioned situation will not happen? Grow up! Pay your bills, gain responsibility, start a REAL family WITHOUT divorcing down the line, and you will realize why life is the way it is. Silly, silly, uneducated people following the crowd , truly. Of course leaders want to appease, hence why they are in power. Of course they will give in. Once we get a strong leader, he is labeled as "dictator", "evil", "oppressing", "blah blah blah I can't think of anymore so I will just whine with my cool crowd blah blah blah wah wah wah I don't get what I want blah blah blah", and you get the point. If you think I am exaggerating, you are probably right. If you think I am lying, you are truly a fool. Exaggeration is necessary to prove a point in which so many a blind to. The only thing not exaggerated was the sexsomnia example. If this trend continues, you WILL see such things happen.
If I am sick and hospitalized, I should have the right to see whoever I want. Why shouldn't I?
I HATE that something like this has to be handled by the POTUS. But, I suppose nothing else would have been sufficient.
The "point" is as mentioned "respect the rights of patients to designate visitors." It ain't about being gay, straight, married, related, or even Klingon....when YOU are the patient, YOU make the call.
This order is not just for gay couples. Unmarried hetero couples have had to contend with the same discrimination. And having a durable power of attorney hasn't been a reliable remedy. I've seen some pretty nasty situations where the patient's blood family "takes over" and excludes the unmarried long-time partner.
It appears that they would lose Medicare/Medicaid funding should they choose not to comply.
That's great and long overdue but my question is what happens in cases of non-compliance?
When emergency contraception became widely available, the bible beater crowd didn't hesitate at all to violate the law to deny women their right to it. I don't have any doubt that there will be many cases of non-compliance with this memo.