Politics and Law Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida announced a series of improved policies “more responsive to the needs of the LGBT community.” The move was in response to a lawsuit brought by Janice Langbehn, who in 2007 was kept from her partner Lisa Pond who lay dying in the hospital. The couple’s three children were kept from Pond as well. This brings us to the big news of the week: President Obama issued a memo directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that same-sex partners have the same visitation rights as other immediate family members. HHS should “Initiate appropriate rulemaking . . . to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.” The memo also says that hospitals should “guarantee that all patients’ advance directives, such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies, are respected,
