Miami hospital kept woman from dying partner’s bedside

Posted on May 20, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized

The gay marriage debate has earned a lot of headlines in the last year, but here’s a story in our own backyard that shows the kind of struggles people face when they have no legal claim to their partner.

The New York Times reports Janice Langbehn of Washington was unable to be by the bedside of her dying partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond. During a Florida vacation, Pond collapsed with an aneurysm and was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital trauma center, where doctors refused to let Langbehn visit her. Pond died without seeing Langbehn or the couple’s three adopted children.

Gay rights groups, who say same-sex partners often are barred from hospital rooms because they aren’t “real family,” are watching the federal lawsuit in Florida, according to the New York Times.

See Miami hospital kept woman from dying partner’s bedside Vero Beach Press-Journal (subscription)

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