Last week, President Obama issued a memorandum to the Secretary of Health and Human Services concerning hospital visitation privileges and stand-in decision making powers of visitors not necessarily legally related to HIV/AIDS patients.

The memorandum advised the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to initiate appropriate rules guaranteeing that Medicaid and Medicare-affiliated hospitals respect HIV/AIDS patients’ privileges to designate visitors.

It also stressed that hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare adhere fully to regulations designed to honor all patient’s advance directives, which include stipulations such as who should make health care decisions if the patient is unable to do so.

Obama emphasized that visitation privileges must not be contingent on race, nationality, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. This would prevent hospitals from denying visitation privileges to gay or lesbian partners.

Denied visitation has been a major issue in the HIV/AIDS community where the disease causes frequent illnesses and hospitalizations in many gay men.

The President acknowledged that under the current system, gay and lesbian Americans are uniquely affected by relatives-only policies at hospitals and are forbidden to act as legal proxies if their partners are incapacitated.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, began working with the Obama administration to amend visitation rights following the case of an Olympia, Washington lesbian couple.

This couple was kept apart as one died from an aneurysm while hospitalized in Miami, Florida.

The new rules could also help widows and widowers who rely on friends and members of religious orders who care for one another.

The memorandum recommends that the HHS issue new guidelines and provide technical assistance to participating Medicaid and Medicare hospitals to aid regulatory compliance and allow appropriate measures for fully enforcing the regulations.

Obama asked HHS to recommend appropriate actions that address hospital visitation, medical decision making, and other health care issues, particularly those that affect LGBT patients and families, within the next six months.

Recently, North Carolina adapted its Patients’ Bill of Rights to allow patients the right to designate visitors who will receive the same rights as immediate family members, regardless of whether they are legally related to the patient or not.

Delaware, Nebraska, and Minnesota have also implemented similar laws.

For more information, please visit the White House website.