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Obama orders most hospitals to grant gays visitation rights
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Chicago Tribune
4/16/2010
"...The Obama memo is inspired in part by the case of Janice Langbehn, who was kept from seeing her partner, Lisa Pond, as she slipped into a coma. Last September a federal judge rejected Langbehn's lawsuit against Florida's Jackson Memorial Hospital, saying there was no law requiring the staff to grant Langbehn access to Pond's bedside.
"After signing the memo, Obama called Langbehn from Air Force One, according to a statement issued by Lambda Legal, which represented Langbehn in court.
"'It was very rewarding to hear, 'I'm sorry,' from the president, because that's what I have wanted to hear from Jackson Memorial since the night Lisa died,' Langbehn said in the statement. 'I hope that taking these steps makes sure that no family ever has to experience the nightmare that my family has gone through.'"