President Obama Expands the Scope of Hospital Visitation Rights
April 15, 2010: President Barack Obama signs a Presidential Memorandum that instructs his administration to initiate appropriate rulemaking to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors, equal to those of immediate family members.
Specifically, Obama's Presidential Memorandum clarifies that participating hospitals could no longer "deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." The Presidential Memorandum clarifies that it intends to address the rights of gays and lesbians, who have been "uniquely affected [and were] 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."
Specifically, Obama's Presidential Memorandum clarifies that participating hospitals could no longer "deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability." The Presidential Memorandum clarifies that it intends to address the rights of gays and lesbians, who have been "uniquely affected [and were] 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."
Posted by Barak Orbach at Thursday, April 15. 2010 
Categories: Social Regulation, Morality
Tags: Hospital Visitation Soft Paternalism
Categories: Social Regulation, Morality
Tags: Hospital Visitation Soft Paternalism
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