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Lesbian Denied
Access to Dying Partner Files Suit
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.
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)
