Sonoma County CA Separates Elderly Gay Couple & Sells All Their Possessions

[Miss Scarlett]

Originally Posted by SuperFemme

This is exactly the kind of thing I am frightened of, and I have more paper work than the SCOTUS would need. Legally Married? Check. Living Trust? Check. Advanced Directive? Check. Durable Power of Attorney? Check.

Do NOT let this story keep you from making informed decisions or completing the correct legal paperwork. Let it be a lesson. Give copies of your wishes to your loudest, most vocal loved ones.

The people that will cut a bitch for you if you can't do it yourself.

But do NOT shrug your shoulders and decide WTF why should I bother?

Originally Posted by Strappie

This story.. actually made me cry. How shameful. I sent this off to my family.

I told them I hope that this will not happen to me or anyone else.

This has to end!

By all means make certain that you let as many people as possible know your wishes. And know the wishes of your loved ones.

This is not just an LGBTQ issue. What happened to this couple can happen to straight couples too. Click on the link - the story has an audio clip from Barbara Coombs Lee that is worth listening too.

From NPR:

Obama Pushes Hospitals To Honor Patients' Choices

By Scott Hensley
April 16, 2010

By ordering hospitals that take Medicare or Medicaid money to allow patients to be visited and helped by whomever they want, President Obama was taking a shot at those that have resisted the wishes often recorded in advance directives.

The presidential memo specifically notes the challenges for gay and lesbian people whose partners have sometimes been unable to act as legal surrogates.

Many hospitals already have broadened the categories of people permitted to visit or aid a hospitalized person. And some states, including North Carolina, have patient bills of rights that give the hospitalized person the power to say who's OK to visit.

But there's also been some backsliding on advance directives, too. Barbara Coombs Lee, president of Compassion & Choices, a patient advocacy group, talked with NPR's Julie Rovner about problems in some states, such as Idaho, where conscience provisions allow health workers who disagree with a patients' treatment choices to ignore them. (Emphasis mine)

Similarly, late last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops made the use of feeding tubes for patients nearing the end of their lives more likely, even when people had specified beforehand that they didn't want them.
(Emphasis mine again)

Dr. Jason Schneider, former president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, told NPR's Ari Shapiro that unless a hospital has a formal policy allowing same-sex visitations, gay couples can run into trouble. Same goes when it comes to who can be a surrogate decision maker for an incapacitated person.

The president's order will take time to implement in federal regulations. But advocates hailed the decision. Some say the New York Times' reporting on the case of a same-sex couple in Florida helped push things along. Despite having power of attorney, a woman was unable to see her partner before she died of an aneurysm in 2007.

Similarly, late last year the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops made the use of feeding tubes for patients nearing the end of their lives more likely, even when people had specified beforehand that they didn't want them.

Dr. Jason Schneider, former president of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, told NPR's Ari Shapiro that unless a hospital has a formal policy allowing same-sex visitations, gay couples can run into trouble. Same goes when it comes to who can be a surrogate decision maker for an incapacitated person.

The president's order will take time to implement in federal regulations. But advocates hailed the decision. Some say the New York Times' reporting on the case of a same-sex couple in Florida helped push things along. Despite having power of attorney, a woman was unable to see her partner before she died of an aneurysm in 2007.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010..._ordering.html