Obama grants same-sex hospital visitation rights
April 22nd, 2010 by Martina.Booth
President Barack Obama has ordered US hospitals to give same-sex partners the same visitation rights as straight partners and family members.
The mandate will apply to any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, which is almost all hospitals.
It also states that a gay person can act as a legal surrogate if their partner becomes incapacitated.
“Gay and lesbian Americans are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives - unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated,” said Obama.
“[A]ll too often, people are made to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying and pacing down the hall.”
The mandate will become law within a few months, according to government officials.
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