The title of the linked article below pretty much says it all, "Hospital Forces Lesbian to Die Alone; Judge Gives Stamp of Approval". On February 18, 2007 Lisa Pond suffered a major brain aneurysm right before her gay cruise was about to take off from a port in Florida. Her partner of nearly 18 years and 3 of their 4 adopted children (see picture of the family to the left) rushed her to a hospital in Jackson only to be denied access to her at all points because they were in a lesbian relationship. In fact, according to Lisa's partner, Janice Langbehn, their first interaction with a social worker at the hospital included them saying, “you are in an anti-gay city and state. And without a health care proxy you will not see Lisa nor know of her condition”. This is even though Janice had legal Durable Powers of Attorney and would be able to produce such documents. After that point Janice and their children were systematically separated from Lisa and were unable to understand what was going on or to comfort their partner and mother in her last dying hours.
What is even more f'ed up about this is that on September 29, 2009 U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan dismissed a lawsuit brought by Janice, essentially finding that the Jackson Memorial Hospital was within its rights to separate Lisa from her Janice and her children even though they were present and able to prove their legal connections to her. This judge rulled that because it was a lesbian couple it was okay to leave a dying woman alone, deny her present and immediate family to visit her, be updated on her condition, or even to provide the hospital with medically necessary information. Seriously people, WTF?
Article with Janice's Story
Posts
