Out With Cancer – The LGBT Cancer Project, responds to court dismissal of Langbehn vs. Jackson Memorial Hospital
ByOut With Cancer, our country’s first and leading national LGBT cancer survivor support and advocacy nonprofit, is profoundly disappointed and fearful about the dismissal of Langbehn vs. Jackson Memorial Hospital by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The ruling affirmed the hospital’s position that it has no duty, no legal obligation, to allow visitors [of any sort] in the hospital, effectively sanctioning arbitrary selection of who can and cannot visit patients. The court’s decision shows just how vulnerable same-sex couples and their families are in Florida without the protection of any statewide laws banning the discrimination of LGBT people. Out With Cancer, along with our partners in The Committee for Fair Visitation at Jackson Memorial Hospital, has been urging Jackson Memorial Hospital to adopt a comprehensive visitation policy that affirms all patients’ rights to have visitors and is inclusive of all families. In light of this decision, we are committed to increasing our efforts to ensure that same-sex couples and all families be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is pretty sad. It is so strange and tragic that this sort of thing continues to happen. It is clear that we do need laws to protect us when the courts will not.