Dying Lesbian's Partner Denied Access To Her

[WillParkinson]

(Miami, Florida) Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond had planned to take their three children on a family cruise. The Olympia, Washington couple had been together 18 years and with their children were looking forward to the holiday.

But just as they were about to depart on the cruise from Miami, Florida. Pond, a healthy 39-year-old, suddenly collapsed. She was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with Langbehn and the children following close behind.

But once Langbehn and the children arrived at the hospital the hospital refused to accept information from her about Ponds’s medical history.

Langbehn says she was informed that she was in an antigay city and state, and she could expect to receive no information or acknowledgment as family.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/02/022208fla.htm

[Hepburn]

1. ........

......:grr:

Words just escape me at this time.

[Lex1775]

2. That's pretty harsh.

I'd hate to be the person who had to tell them that.

[lonestarnot]

3. Move her out NOW!

[dflprincess]

10. How?

As long as Ms Langbehn is incapacitated it's up to whoever Florida will recognize as next of kin. Without a power of attorney, it's not Ms Pond and if the kids are under 18, it's not any of them either. We can only hope that Langbehn's other relatives support her and her partner.

[Olney Blue]

4. This is unacceptable.

:banghead:

[jlpohio69]

7. Heartbreaking

How do these people sleep at night knowing how they have demonized gays and lesbians...just disgusting.

[WillParkinson]

12. Because...

Their god comforts them and tells them that their ignorance is just.

[Maven]

5. That is totally fucked.

:grr:

[gateley]

6. Another heartbreaking and infuriating example of why everybody needs to be

afforded equal rights by LAW.

I'm guessing that if gay marriage was legally recognized, she would have had access to her partner and to medical information.

We've got to get this to the forefront again, and do whatever it takes to stop hurting people because of bias and fear.

[pnwmom]

20. This is a tragedy, but there is another lesson to be learned.

Nobody should have children unless they've gotten the legalities squared away, whether it's through the legal process of marriage or going to a lawyer and getting it done outside of marriage.

It would have been easy enough to draft durable powers of attorney for each other, and to make each other executors of their wills. I hope the children are either the biological or the adopted children of the deceased, or there won't be any Social Security. And I hope they're the biological or adopted children of the remaining parent, or she may have to fight the relatives for custody.

I'm a proponent of gay marriage, but no one should who's planning to have children should wait for the Federal Govt. to act. There are legal actions that can and should be taken NOW.

Before anyone accuses me of homophobia, I'm just being practical, as the daughter of a gay man who went to a lawyer when he needed to.

[Der Blaue Engel]

8. This stuff just tears me up inside

My partner and I aren't legally married, but he happens to be male, and when he was hospitalized and underwent surgery recently, no one ever questioned my right or even the right of his secondary partner to be there or to receive medical information about him. We live in San Francisco, so I don't know if this is usual or not, but it made me wonder what would have happened if we had been a same-sex couple. I actually felt guilty for being treated with respect. :(

This is the part that people who don't support marriage equality either do not get or do not give a fuck about: we are talking about life and death here. These are not "special rights," they are civil rights, basic human rights, and it is nothing less than vile, vindictive hatred to deny them to one group of people under the pathetic guise of "religious tolerance."

[calico1]

27. This was exactly the case with me and my

partner. When I went in to have eye surgery they treated him exactly as if he were my husband. Gay couples are not treated with the same respect.

[Mythsaje]

9. That is SO fucked up. n/t

[Hissyspit]

11. Sick. n/t

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

13. Assholes. That is horrible.

[Lint Head]

14. I say call they uncaring pricks and complain.

Jackson Memorial Hospital
1611 N.W. 12th Avenue
Miami, Florida 33136-1096
305-585-1111

[NMMNG]

15. Oh well. We should just leave these decisions up to the states.

Screw the Human and Civil Rights of the affected individuals. :sarcasm:

[LostinVA]

26. This isn't an issue off of DU, anyway

[NMMNG]

42. You're right

Nobody outside of DU is worried about LGBT rights. They're all voting for Obama and have either never heard of McClurkin, or don't care about him. We're just a bunch of hand-wringing whiners. :eyes:

[queerart]

16. And People Have The Balls To Say.......

Just be patient, your turn will come........


This sadly perverse treatment is the norm......








-----------------------------------------------




(the message below is not meant for the topic of this thread, and I'm sure my words will sound deranged to some as well)



But for all of you vile repugnant zealots (of all stripes) who skulk around this area like a mouldering cadaver to to find this type of story to laugh about with your friends (I watch my IP logs, and when you view a photo... your IP address is logged....so I know you sad lot are slinking around here...... and you think no one knows)



I say to you........ as it's your ilk that keeps this type of hate blossoming........



You are loosing, and the Queers are gaining ground everyday..... soon your class will be made irrelevant in the Queer debate.....



...... and isn't it funny that in the most repressive 7 years the Queers have seen, we have made the most strides all across the World.......



Karma Is For Everyone.... And The Chains You Forge Everyday On Earth...... Will Follow You Forever On Your Travels.......



Ain't That A Fun Thought?

[AnnieBW]

17. This is inhuman!

By all of the Gods and Goddesses! :argh:

Send this to KO - it would be a good candidate for "Worst Person In the World".

[xchrom]

18. ...

:grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[littlebit]

19. This is just messed up

I can not believe that those idiots did that to them. This pisses me off so much.

[Marnieworld]

21. Because of course that's what Jesus would have done

I don't understand how these people live with themselves after being so cruel. I don't understand how any moral person still resists marriage rights for everyone. And it risked her medical health to deny her medical history on principle. If there is anything they could have done to save her with this information there could be a law suit possibility. When will this madness end? :grr:

[Ayesha]

22. They DID have the paperwork

What's most disturbing about this case is that they did have power of attorney set up, and the hospital refused to recognize it even after it was faxed to them. Also they refused to let the kids see their mom even though she is a legal parent on their birth certificates.

More details here:

http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/138169.html

and here:

http://thelpkids.com/national-media-awards/

[Occulus]

30. Neither of those links work for me; they appear dead n/t

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

36. They both opened for me

Safari is my browser, maybe some "parental block" on your computer keeps them from opening,

Sad News about the couple...

[intaglio]

23. Compassion, has anyone at that hospital ever

heard that word?

:hug: to Ms Langbehn and the children

[theHandpuppet]

24. Yet another example of how well that states' rights argument works

This deserves posting to some of the larger forums.

[terrya]

25. Disgusting, sad, infurating, heartbreaking.

Once you think no one could descend to the lowest depths of bigotry, you're suprised once again.

My heart goes out to Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond and their family. I am deeply sorry that they had to endure that.

[madrchsod]

28. another reason for never visiting florida

i`d say the hospital maybe in big trouble by refusing medical information..big trouble

[DarkTirade]

29. Yet one more reason I'm glad I'm out of that state.

[Cherchez la Femme]

31. Florida, that state of "Values"

:sarcasm:

:kick:

[FourScore]

32. This is an outrage!!!

I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS!!!!
:grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:
:argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh:
:nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[readmoreoften]

33. The sad thing is, it's so common. I constantly worry about this myself.

I've known it to happen to more than one person. It happened to a women I met in NY who had been with her partner for 30 years. Homophobic, distant relatives from a foreign country came in--people her partner hadn't seen in 50 years--and tried to take her out of the country so she could die "with family". Luckily her partner regained consciousness long enough to say: NO! GET THEM OUT OF HERE! If she hadn't, the women would've been sent off to a foreign country with cousins and aunts and uncles she hardly knew instead of spending her last moments with her partner of 30 years.

If that's family values then I oppose them.

[rosesaylavee]

34. Is there anything we can do for them here?

Can we organize phoning the hospital administrator or someone there? Can we, here at DU, apply pressure in any way to help this family?


On edit... finished reading the story. Their lawyer will take care of this despicable hospital. I would like to see us organize a phone campaign to help someone in real time, someone who would benefit from a phone campaign. This exists because good people don't know about it and if they do, do nothing to stop it. We phone our congress critters on a regular basis who have a pretty thick skin about talking with their disgruntled constituents. Hospital admins do not have that experience so we may just be able to sway them toward acting like humans and doing the right thing.

[Irishonly]

35. Absolutely Disgusting

I am so angry I don't know what to say. Disgusting and evil don't seem to cover it.

[Tektonik]

37. Yet another reason to never step foot in Florida

:mad:

[mitchtv]

38. Worst Person in the World

That's what they need anyone have an email for Keith ?

[Heywood J]

39. If, as another comment indicated, she had a power of attorney and birth

certificates faxed in that showed she and the children had a right to be there and see her, I'm confused as to why she didn't just step outside and call the county sheriff or city police in. As an honest question, I don't understand why she didn't call the police to have this enforced, even if she didn't mention the lesbian-partner in the call, just explaining it as a friend or whatever was necessary.


Would that not have been more effective, to have law enforcement move the hospital administrators aside?

[Malikshah]

40. Based on reports from poster Ayesha (see up thread) they only

made a move to "recognize" the partnership when they needed to harvest organs.

This.
Is.
Disgusting.

My partner and I spent hundreds to get the legal paperwork done for power of attorney.

If any one-- anyone tries to stop either of us, they'll be a few more casualties in the ER.

[mitchtv]

41. Out of state

makes it difficult. I'd advise all gays and lesbians to avoid cruises that depart from Ft Lauderdale. and let them know why.

[Malikshah]

43. My partner and I are in FL-- we were advised that the hospital need only contact

our lawyer for the documents.

This couple did the same thing and yet Jackson Memorial still didn't accept it.

I don't think they'd differ b/w in and out of state if they can't accept faxed official documents.