Gay Man Can Hold Hospital Accountable for Partners Death After Routine Surgery Following Manhattan Hit-and-Run, Lambda Legal Says

(New York, Thursday, January 9, 2003) - A gay man in New York should be able to hold St. Vincent’s Hospital accountable for medical negligence that led to his longtime partner’s death after routine surgery for a broken leg he suffered when he was the victim of a hit-and-run spree last year, Lambda Legal said in court papers filed today.

St. Vincent’s Hospital, in the heart of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is asking a state court to block John Langan from suing for wrongful death and medical malpractice, claiming that because he and Neal Conrad Spicehandler were a gay couple, their 15-year relationship cannot be legally recognized. Langan and Spicehandler were joined in a civil union in Vermont and had several legal documents reflecting their relationship, and the hospital treated Langan like Spicehandler’s spouse throughout the medical ordeal.

“Conrad was my soul mate and my spouse,” Langan said. “We loved each other as deeply as two people can love, and we did everything we could to formalize, legalize and protect our relationship, our love and our commitment to each other.”

New York law allows spouses, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and other specified relatives to sue for wrongful death. Nowhere does the wrongful death law require that a spouse have a marriage certificate. “Laws allowing people to sue for wrongful death are supposed to protect people in committed, loving, inter-dependent relationships - gay or straight,” said Adam Aronson, the Lambda Legal staff attorney handling part of the case. “John and Conrad were legal spouses and a legal family under the Vermont civil union law. New York’s wrongful death laws were meant to give people like John a way to hold hospitals accountable, and he is entitled to the same rights and protections of straight spouses in similar situations.”

Langan and Spicehandler met in 1986, when they were 25 and 26, respectively, and moved in together the next year. In November 2000, shortly after civil unions became legal in Vermont, 40 family members and close friends attended a ceremony where the couple exchanged vows and rings. Over the years, Langan and Spicehandler’s biological families recognized them as spouses and considered them part of their families.

Last February, Spicehandler was struck by a car driven by a New Jersey man who was on a days-long hit-and-run spree that ultimately injured two dozen people on several Manhattan streets. When he was taken to St. Vincent’s, the only person Spicehandler asked the staff to call was Langan, who in turn called Spicehandler’s other family members. By the time Langan arrived at the hospital, Spicehandler was being taken into surgery to repair a broken leg, and had given his brother a note for Langan that said:

John:
I’m going under.
I haven’t had the chance to see you. I love you.
I’ve made my life in your heart.
-- Conrad

A couple of days later, on Valentine’s Day 2002, Spicehandler’s broken leg was operated on a second time. He, Langan and the rest of the family all thought he would be fine, and were told that he would be released from the hospital within a few days. Langan waited for Spicehandler to return from the surgery that night, visited with him and kissed him goodnight. Early the next morning, he was awoken by a call from St. Vincent’s Hospital telling him that Spicehandler was dead.

“My world was suddenly and completely shattered,” Langan said. “Conrad was the love of my life. I have never been closer to anyone. We had plans, goals and dreams that I will never be able to fulfill without him. I miss everything about Conrad, every moment of my life.”

Last year, after St. Vincent’s was unable to satisfactorily explain how the routine surgery turned fatal, Langan and Spicehandler’s mother, Ruth, sued St. Vincent’s for wrongful death and medical malpractice. They seek to recover for Spicehandler’s pain and suffering before he died, as well as lost financial support. In November, St. Vincent’s asked a state court in Nassau County, where Langan and Spicehandler lived, to block Langan from suing, claiming that he does not qualify as a spouse.

Lambda Legal has worked on a number of cases seeking equal recognition of same-sex couples in New York, including fighting for equal protections for lesbians and gay men whose partners died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In the last few years years, Lambda Legal helped win victories that established second-parent adoption for same-sex couples and included same-sex couples in the definition of “family” under housing laws.

Contact: Eric Ferrero, 212/809-8585 ext. 227; 888/987-1984 (pager)