Gay and Lesbian Cremation Urn

Grief is a universal experience, but in a scenario gay men and women know all too well, individual circumstances can complicate grief and intensify the suffering of the bereaved.

According to a study funded by the Irish Hospice Foundation and published in the International Journal of Palliative Nursing, doctors, nurses and clergy – those whose mission is to alleviate suffering – actually inflict emotional pain on grieving gay men and women by failing to acknowledge their relationships. Nursing experts who conducted the study at Trinity College Dublin found that “ … healthcare professionals and the wider community were complicit in reinforcing the invisibility of gay/lesbian bereaved people.”

A Case for Compassion
In an extreme example of the kind of behavior cited in the Irish study, a suit filed this month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida illustrates the human cost of the insensitive, thoughtless or even deliberately cruel responses to gay couples and families by medical professionals and caregivers.

While vacationing with her family in Miami, Lisa Pond, a healthy 39 year-old, suddenly fell ill. She was rushed to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, where hospital staff prevented her partner Janice and their three adopted children from seeing Lisa until 8 hours after her admission. Janice produced the children’s birth certificates and a medical Power of Attorney signed by Lisa, all to no avail, in spite of the fact that the doctor who was treating Lisa acknowledged there was no medical reason to deny visitation.

Janice’s suit claims Jackson Memorial Hospital was negligent and intentionally inflicted emotional distress. The hospital has asked the Court to dismiss the suit on the grounds that the hospital has no obligation to allow visitors.

Even after Lisa died, when Janice attempted to obtain copies of the death certificate in order to file for life insurance and Social Security benefits on behalf of the couple’s children, her requests were refused by both the State of Florida and the Dade County Medical Examiner.