Nurses Sorry for Barring Woman from Dying Partner

Nurses at a Miami hospital apologized to Janice Lengbehn, who was barred from seeing her dying partner during her final moments of life.

Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1991, which represents 5,000 health care workers at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, issued public apologies on Thursday.

"We certainly are sorry for the pain and suffering she felt," said Martha Baker, a nurse and president of the SEIU local.

Lengbehn's partner, Lisa Pond, was 39 when she died of a brain aneurysm in February 2007. The couple and their children were in Miami with plans to board a cruise bound for the Caribbean. However, Lengbehn was barred from seeing her partner in the hospital.

After her death, she sued the hospital, but a court threw out her case, saying the hospital was not required to allow Pond to have visitors.

Lengbehn accepted the nurses' apology but said she was still waiting for one from hospital administrators.