Does Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital Hate Gays?
"I never thought almost 20 years of love and family could be disregarded in an instant," said Langbehn, a social worker who lives with her children in Lacey, Wash. -- South-Florida Sun-Sentinel
A woman and her partner arrive in Miami to take a cruise. A woman and her partner of 18-years. With their children. The woman has a brain aneurysm. After 18 hours she was pronounced dead.
18 hours where her partner and her children weren't allowed to see her.
At a Miami news conference, Langbehn, 39, broke down when she recalled the eight hours she and her three adopted children — now ages 11, 12 and 14 — sat in a hospital waiting room with little knowledge of Pond's condition. "As I sat there wracking my brain, I would go outside and scream into the Miami night," she said. "I felt like a failure for not being there holding her hand."
Langbehn said she was allowed in to see her partner only for about five minutes, as a priest gave Pond the last rites.
Langbehn is suing three Jackson Hospital personnel for approx $75,000.
But when Pond suffered a massive stroke onboard before the ship left port and was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, administrators refused to let Langbehn into the Pond's hospital room. A social worker told them they were in an "anti-gay city and state."
$75,000 is a slap on the wrist. A reminder that their actions were morally wrong. However:
Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association, said she did not think Jackson broke any laws or rules and chided the family for seeking money from a public hospital."Whether [Jackson] could have been more culturally sensitive, maybe. Do the [the family members] deserve an apology? Probably," Quick said. "But that's tax money they are trying to get."
Well, Ms Quick, I'm one of those taxpayers. That family deserves more than $75,000. I suggest the salaries for one year from each of those employees.
Pond, Langbehn and the children arrived in Miami for a Caribbean cruise with R Family Vacations, a company run by Rosie O'Donnell and her partner Kelli Carpenter that caters to gays.
Ms O'Donnell, may I suggest R Family moves their cruise port to a place that is not an "anti-gay city and state?"
