Being that we have a lot of issues as TBLG people accessing medical care and getting treated with dignity and respect without drama, here's another one of those as some people in the GL community derisively called it 'crumbs' from the Obama Administration that took effect today in terms of hospital visitation rights.for TBLG patients.
This was the memo dated April 15, 2010 that the POTUS wrote to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Here's the money part of it;
My Administration can expand on these important steps to ensure that
patients can receive compassionate care and equal treatment during their
hospital stays. By this memorandum, I request that you take the
following steps:
1. Initiate appropriate rulemaking, pursuant to your authority under
42 U.S.C. 1395x and other relevant provisions of law, to ensure that
hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of
patients to designate visitors. It should be made clear that designated
visitors, including individuals designated by legally valid advance
directives (such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies),
should enjoy visitation privileges that are no more restrictive than
those that immediate family members enjoy.
You should also provide that
participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges on the basis
of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or
disability. The rulemaking should take into account the need for
hospitals to restrict visitation in medically appropriate circumstances
as well as the clinical decisions that medical professionals make about a
patient's care or treatment.
2. Ensure that all hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid
are in full compliance with regulations, codified at 42 CFR 482.13 and
42 CFR 489.102(a), promulgated to guarantee that all patients' advance
directives, such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies,
are respected, and that patients' representatives otherwise have the
right to make informed decisions regarding patients' care. Additionally,
I request that you issue new guidelines, pursuant to your authority
under 42 U.S.C. 1395cc and other relevant provisions of law, and provide
technical assistance on how hospitals participating in Medicare or
Medicaid can best comply with the regulations and take any additional
appropriate measures to fully enforce the regulations.
3. Provide additional recommendations to me, within 180 days of the
date of this memorandum, on actions the Department of Health and Human
Services can take to address hospital visitation, medical
decisionmaking, or other health care issues that affect LGBT patients
and their families.
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