The new federal hospital visitation rules: "Conscience clauses" do not apply .. and what else the final rule does or does not cover

Of the 78 page publication available today from the Department of Health and Human Services, only 4 contain the actual regulations that will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. The gist of those four pages is simple. Hospitals governed by the rules of the Medicare and Medicaid programs must tell each patient that s/he has the right to receive the visitors she

HHS proposed regs on hospital visitation ignore the needs of those incapable of naming visitors

If ever there was a bi-partisan no-brainer it is that every hospitalized patient should be able to name his or her visitors, subject to a medical reason to exclude them. The proposed regs emerging from the Obama administration (on line now but subject to official publication on Monday) accomplish no more than that.But what about emergencies, about patients unable to name their visitors? The

Obama's hospital visitation memo -- it's really not just about same-sex couples

From the press reports of President Obama's directive on hospital visitation and medical decisionmaking, you'd think it was a divisive gay rights issue, just one step short of authorizing same-sex marriage. And it is absolutely true that it should help prevent the tragedies involving gay and lesbian partners, including one in Florida, another in Maryland, and another about to go to trial in

More on Colorado's designated beneficiary law

Last week I wrote about the new Colorado law that allows any two unmarried adults to become "designated beneficiaries" and thus gain what essentially amounts to next-of-kin status. I love this law!But it's still not a statute that matches the purpose of various laws to the families/relationships that the law should encompass. Here's what I mean. It's perfect that the law allows designation of

The extraordinary new Colorado law

When a legislature blinks on same-sex marriage, we hear about it in the news everywhere. But the law signed by Colorado's governor last week has garnered little attention, and it has some transformative possibilities that deserve lots and lots of attention. (Thanks to Bilerico's Alex Blaze for highlighting it -- but not a single comment to his post.) Colorado now has a simple form, with a menu of

Hospital visitation and health care decisionmaking autonomy for EVERYONE

Wisconsin may be poised to go down the same road Maryland choose last year -- the conflation of recognition of same-sex couples with the needs all people have, especially LGBT people estranged from their families of origin, to hospital visits from loved ones and medical decisionmaking by the person who knows them best. (Even Obama got it wrong in his acceptance speech). And Wisconsin is actually

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND VISITING LOVED ONES IN THE HOSPITAL DO NOT BELONG IN THE SAME SENTENCE

By now we all know what Obama said about us in his acceptance speech, but here it is in total:I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in a hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.Now I can't criticize the "live lives free of discrimination" part...amen to that. But as

OUTRAGEOUS HOSPITAL BEHAVIOR

Readers of this blog know that my family policy agenda includes advance health care directive registries, first at the state level and then hopefully linked across the country. Today there's news of outrageous hospital behavior out of Florida. Janice Langbehn was denied access to her dying partner, Lisa Marie Pond, even after the power of attorney she held was faxed to Jackson Memorial Hospital