A lawsuit was
filed in Miami Wednesday against a hospital that refused to
allow a lesbian see her partner of 18 years before dying
because the hospital did not consider the two women
family.
The suit will be
filed by Lambda Legal on behalf of Janice Langbehn.
Langbehn and Lisa
Pond had planned to take their three children on a
family cruise, but just as they were about to depart on the
cruise from Miami, Pond, 39, suddenly collapsed,
according to Lambda Legal. She was rushed to Jackson
Memorial Hospital in Miami, with Langbehn and the
children following close behind.
Other than one
five-minute visit, neither she nor her children were
allowed to see Pond until nearly eight hours after their
arrival.
Soon after
Pond's death, Langbehn tried to gain access
to her death certificate in order to obtain life
insurance and Social Security benefits for their
children. She was denied both by the state of Florida
and the Dade County medical examiner. (The
Advocate)
