few follow this blog now – and w/ the motion to dismiss a week ago – i will leave these posts.. they are real and honest and when i started i really hoped to make waves of change – but for now folks.. follow the family www.theLPkids.com
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family photos
More Photos
closing down
April 23, 2009 — rwavesofchangenot that I don’t care about this site, but for now.. it’s time for me to focus on other things.. My family site will remain open.. it’s what we are know by – www.theLPkids.com
I will close down when my personalized name is done.. and re-route this site to our main family site. thanks
jan
New Posting I stumbled upon
March 28, 2009 — rwavesofchangeThis just broke my heart into a million tiny little pieces:
As her partner of 17 years slipped into a coma, Janice Langbehn pleaded with doctors and anyone who would listen to let her into the woman’s hospital room.
Eight anguishing hours passed before Langbehn would be allowed into Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. By then, she could only say her final farewell as a priest performed the last rites on 39-year-old Lisa Marie Pond.
Jackson staffers advised Langbehn that she could not see Pond earlier because the hospital’s visitation policy in cases of emergency was limited to immediate family and spouses — not partners. In Florida, same-sex marriages or partnerships are not recognized. On Friday, two years after her partner’s death, Langbehn and her attorneys were in federal court, claiming emotional distress and negligence in a suit they filed last June.
The couple’s three adopted children were also refused by the hospital to be recognized as family. And it is my understanding that this scenario, or one like it, happens to same-sex couples far too often.
I think, as one naturally does, difficult though it may be, of this happening to me. I think of my husband being gravely ill and/or dying, and not being able to be with him. I think of the horror of not knowing what was happening to him, and of not being able to tell him I love him and say goodbye one final time.
I think also of being the person who is ill and/or dying, and how terrifying and isolating it would feel to be left alone and without my husband. Why is he not here? Does he not even care? Can I not tell him that I love him one last time, as he goes on to live life without me? Dying alone, I will admit, is one of my greatest fears. And so my heart is not only broken for Janice Lanbehn and her children, but also for Lisa Marie Pond.
I think also that this is not only about those people who would get married if they could, or who have legal documents that go unrecognized because they belong to two people of the same sex, and don’t have the word “marriage” to back them up. I think of everyone else who doesn’t have the word to back them up. I think of long-term committed couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, who have chosen to not get married. I think of couples who planned to get married but haven’t yet. I think of groups of friends who are not romantically involved, but feel like family to one another.
I think of when, back in 2002, I had serious kidney trouble. I was in excruciating pain and was living in Australia, away from my family. I think of how the only person who meant anything to me there was my husband, who was “only” my boyfriend at the time. I think of how he was there for me, how terrifying it was to be in such pain, to not know what was wrong with me, and to be in a place that I still did not fully understand. And I think of the concept that I could have been forced to go through that alone, because someone working at the fucking hospital said that hey, we’re not legal family. I think of how much more likely it would have been to happen if some bigots decided that our love was inherently sinful just based on who we were.
The hospital’s attorneys have argued for a dismissal of this lawsuit on the grounds that they have no legal obligation to let a patient see visitors.
The ridiculous and irresponsible fucking arrogance of such a statement leaves me almost speechless.
How about, instead, they have no legal right to decide whether or not a patient spends their dying — or hell, even their entirely non-fatal but still sick, vulnerable and horribly frightening — moments with the ones they love? How about the fact that while they seemingly love to play the role, the hospital is not fucking god.
I hope with all my heart that Langbehn wins her case. She deserves that, at the very least. But what I really hope for is a solution that doesn’t revolve around rights and respect only for those who have some sort of paperwork, or an ultimately stupid little world like marriage as support, no matter how equally accessible such things are.
No one deserves less dignity than I do just because I have a marriage license.
Janice Langbehn didn’t deserve to spend Lisa Marie Pond’s final moments with her because she had some paperwork, and because she could produce it and show it to everyone around her. She deserved to spend her partner’s final moments with her because it was the only humane possible solution. Because everyone deserves that much.
Look we made Huffington
February 8, 2009 — rwavesofchangeJanice Langbehn Sues Hospital Over Visitation Rights
Read More: Gay Rights, Hospital Visitation Rights, Janice Langbehn, Janice Langbehn Sues Hospital, Lisa Marie Pond, Living News
As her partner of 17 years slipped into a coma, Janice Langbehn pleaded with doctors and anyone who would listen to let her into the woman’s hospital room.
Eight anguishing hours passed before Langbehn would be allowed into Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. By then, she could only say her final farewell as a priest performed the last rites on 39-year-old Lisa Marie Pond.
Gay woman fights over hospital visitation rights in Miami court
A gay woman not allowed to visit her dying partner at Jackson Memorial Hospital in 2007 hopes a federal judge will allow her claims of emotional distress and negligence to go to trial.
BY LAURA FIGUEROA
LFIGUEROA@MIAMIHERALD.COM
As her partner of 17 years slipped into a coma, Janice Langbehn pleaded with doctors and anyone who would listen to let her into the woman’s hospital room.
Eight anguishing hours passed before Langbehn would be allowed into Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. By then, she could only say her final farewell as a priest performed the last rites on 39-year-old Lisa Marie Pond.
Jackson staffers advised Langbehn that she could not see Pond earlier because the hospital’s visitation policy in cases of emergency was limited to immediate family and spouses — not partners. In Florida, same-sex marriages or partnerships are not recognized. On Friday, two years after her partner’s death, Langbehn and her attorneys were in federal court, claiming emotional distress and negligence in a suit they filed last June.
Jackson attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case on grounds that the hospital has no obligation to allow patients’ visitors.
Following a hearing lasting more than an hour Friday, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan said he would try to decide soon whether the case could proceed to trial. He gave no specific date.
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT
The suit is winding its way through federal court only months after voters approved the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The statewide amendment garnered more than 62 percent of voters — surpassing the 60 percent threshold required for ratification.
Supporters of Florida’s Amendment 2 — mostly conservatives and Christian groups — argued it was needed to protect families and the traditional institution of marriage by promoting homes with a mom and a dad.
Opponents argued that gay and straight, unmarried Floridians risked losing domestic partner benefits, such as health insurance, hospital visitation rights and the ability to make end-of-life decisions.
NO CONSULTATION
At Friday’s hearing, Langbehn’s lawyers argued the case should be tried because Langbehn had the proper documentation to make medical decisions on behalf of her partner, and was not consulted about Pond’s condition for hours despite seeking answers every 20 minutes.
”This is not just about same-sex couples,” said attorney Donald Hayden, who is also representing the Langbehn family. “This is about protecting the legal access that a parent has to see a child, or an essential loved ones right to be aware of what is going on with their loved one.”
Attorneys for Jackson argued that hospital staff did not purposely try to harm the family or cause emotional stress.
”There’s just not enough there to say that these doctors intentionally tried to cause distress,” attorney Andrew Boese told the judge.
Pond’s medical problems began in February 2007 when she, Langbehn and their three adopted children were aboard a cruise ship docked in Miami. The Washington state couple and their children were on vacation.
Pond suddenly collapsed from a heart attack and was rushed to the trauma center.
Though Langbehn had documents declaring her Pond’s legal guardian and giving her the medical ”power of attorney,” Jackson officials refused to recognize her or the kids as family.
Langbehn, who still lives in Washington, was not available for comment Friday, but in a 2007 interview with The Miami Herald she said, “Any family should have the right to hold their loved one’s hand in the last moments of life, and we were denied that.”
Langbehn’s supporters are livid about the hospital’s actions.
”We are here to ensure that families get the respect they deserve at Jackson Memorial Hospital and to prevent Janice’s tragedy from happening to anyone else,” said Beth Littrell, an attorney for Lambda Legal, a national group that fights for the civil rights of gays. “This family deserves to have its day in court.”
our case in our attorney’s words – Beth Littrell – amazing piece
January 13, 2009 — rwavesofchangehttp://www.lambdalegal.org/our-work/publications/general/the-reality-of-living-and.html
The Reality of Living – and Dying – Without Respect
By Beth Littrell, Staff Attorney
Published 07/30/08
On the campaign trail this spring, former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee touted the need for a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality and barring civil unions, claiming that legal documents can alleviate inequality in most matters of life. “The power of attorney would give same-sex couples a chance to visit one another at a hospital, transfer assets,” he said. “There are a lot of things that could be handled that don’t require a civil union.”
Tell that to Janice Langbehn.
Janice arrived at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fl, at the same time as the ambulance carrying her life partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond. Forty-five minutes later, the hospital received Lisa’s durable power of attorney identifying Janice as the person authorized to make medical decisions. Eight hours later, Janice was still pleading with hospital employees to allow her, and their three jointly adopted children, permission to be with Lisa as she was taking her last breaths on this earth.
Janice and Lisa had all the paperwork they thought they needed: wills, living wills, joint mortgages and durable powers of attorney. The papers helped ensure that Janice and their kids were not thrown out of their home outside Olympia, Washington, and that she did not lose jointly held property when Lisa died. But they did not allow Janice to get Lisa’s death certificate from the state of Florida in order to apply for Social Security death benefits for their children. Nor did their paperwork provide access to Lisa’s remains so that Janice could keep some of Lisa’s ashes in the cross she wears around her neck.
These examples show the practical limitation on legal papers as substitutes for legal recognition. Janice was able to tell the doctors that Lisa did not want to be kept alive by artificial means, but she was not able to tell her partner goodbye. She was not able to comfort Lisa as she was passing away, and she was unable to get her kids by their mother’s side while Lisa could still perceive their presence. The power of attorney could not do what a marriage license or civil union would have done: It did not open the locked doors to the hospital room. It may, however, provide her lawyers with an additional means to hold the hospital accountable.
Lambda Legal, along with cooperating attorneys at Baker & McKenzie, LLP, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Janice, the estate of Lisa and their three children this past June, claiming that the hospital is vicariously liable for the negligent and/or intentional actions of its employees during those eight critical hours. The lawsuit does not allege medical malpractice, nor does it claim that the hospital refused to allow Janice to make medical decisions on Lisa’s behalf. Langbehn et al. v. The Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, et al., Case No. 08-21813-CIV, (S.D. Fla. 2008), does allege that the hospital employees negligently or intentionally prevented this family from being together on the last night of Lisa’s life, and as she moved inevitably closer to brain death. Hospital employees had no medical justification for their actions, which were in direct violation of internal policies, national hospital standards, professional codes of ethics and all notions of compassion and human civility.
Our lawsuit, applying age-old common law principles to modern-day problems, seeks to hold the hospital responsible for the pain and suffering Janice and the children endured as well as for the harm inflicted on Lisa. No one should be left to die alone when their closest family members are steps away. Either the employees actions fell well below the standard of care or well beyond the bounds of decency. Either way, our lawsuit seeks restitution for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Although our claims are grounded on well-established legal and ethical principles, the litigation is not without legal hurdles. Chief among these is the fact that Florida follows the minority view of negligence actions, called the “impact rule.” The impact rule requires that a plaintiff must prove either a physical impact from the defendant’s negligence or a physical injury flowing from it. Routinely criticized, the impact rule is often called into question by Florida appellate courts in dissenting opinions. Indeed, several Florida Supreme Court justices have made clear their disagreement with the continued application of this rule. See, e.g., Woodard v. Jupiter Christian School, 972 So.2d. 170 (Fla. 2007) (J. Pariente dissenting) (“as I have stated in each and every impact rule case that has been certified to this Court in the past several years, I believe the impact rule should be abolished.”).
That case, which involved a young gay student, illustrates the severity of this outdated rule. InWoodard v. Jupiter Christian School, 913 So.2d. 1188 (Fla. App. Dist. 4 2005), a student brought action against a private Bible-centered school for negligent infliction of emotional distress and other claims based on a chaplain’s disclosure of the student’s homosexuality to administrators, despite the chaplain’s express assurances that their conversation would be confidential. The student was subsequently shunned, berated and expelled. The appellate court upheld the grant of defendant’s motion to dismiss since the plaintiff could not prove physical injury.
The impact rule is riddled with exceptions, among them where a tortfeasor’s negligence is willful and wanton, and where the “foreseeability and gravity of the emotional injury involved, and lack of countervailing policy concerns, have surmounted the policy rationale undergirding application of the impact rule.” Rowell v. Holt, 850 So.2d 474, 478 (Fla. 2003) (holding that impact rule does not preclude recovery for psychological injury due to attorney’s negligence).
Application of the foreseeability exception has allowed recovery where, for example, a person’s HIV status was revealed, Florida Dept. of Corrections v. Abril, 2007 WL 3024020 (Fla. 2007); where negligence caused the stillborn birth of a child, Rowell v. Holt, 850 So.2d 474, 479 (Fla. 2003); and where a psychologist revealed confidential information. Gracey v. Eaker, 837 So.2d. 348 (Fla. 2002). We believe the facts of our case trigger the exception. Our lawsuit also alleges that the plaintiffs each suffered physical injury resulting from the emotional stress they endured.
Regardless of its effect on the state’s impact rule, Langbehn v. The Public Health Trust is already having an impact on public opinion in Florida and beyond. No longer can opponents of equality claim that hospitals never deny same-sex couples visitation principles. Janice and her children can attest that it does happen. They are also flesh and blood testaments that debunk the dangerous myth that same-sex couples do not need relationship recognition, they simply need legal documents. While wills and powers of attorney help – and we certainly believe all same-sex couples should have them – there are times when they are not readily available, are not honored or are recognized in the most limited fashion.
Janice’s experience also gives voice to the fear that this type of state-sanctioned discrimination will become even more prevalent in the face of Florida’s proposed constitutional amendment. The amendment seeks to ban same-sex marriage and, others might argue, prevent relationship recognition for all unmarried couples.
In other parts of the country, this case certainly illustrates the reality facing same-sex couples in states that deny their relationships legal recognition.We hope it will also set precedent that establishes the standard of care hospitals and their employees owe to their patients, and to their patients’ self-defined families.
At Jackson Memorial Hospital that fateful night, Janice watched as different-sex couples and their families were met with compassion, promptly provided information and escorted beyond the locked doors of the trauma unit to be with their loved ones. No tragedy should be compounded by prejudice. No family should suffer what Janice and her children endured that night. We hope to bring justice for Janice and her family and rights and remedies for us all by doing what Lambda Legal does best: making the case for equality.
why the hell does AFA have time to care about a soup ad? Where are out priorties?
December 29, 2008 — rwavesofchangeDear Friends,
While GLAAD has been hard at work fighting defamation against our community in media this year, anti-gay activists continue to put time and money into targeting media that show our lives and community in a fair and accurate way. This month, the anti-gay American Family Association showed their “holiday spirit” by demanding their constituents respond to a LGBT-inclusive advertising campaign released by the Campbell Soup Company.
The ads for Swanson broth ran in the national LBGT news magazine The Advocate. The campaign, entitled “Home for the Holidays,” features a lesbian couple with their son and lists Swanson broth as a key element in the family’s annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve celebration (see below). The ad was met with an alert from the AFA that called for e-mails and phone calls attacking the Campbell Soup Company, which owns Swanson’s, for acknowledging that gay people “constitute a family and are worthy of support.”
Check out our post on glaadBLOG for a copy of the ad and resulting media coverage:http://glaadblog.org/2008/12/23/afa-shows-their-holiday-spirit-with-attack-on-ad-with-lesbian-moms/.
We cannot let anti-gay forces intimidate our allies and block possitive images of our community. We commend Campbell’s for being inclusive of all families and ask that you too thank them for being fair and inclusive of our lives by e-mailing Campbell Soup President Douglas Conant and Director of Corporate Communications Anthony Sanzio. Follow up with a phone call to the Campbell Soup Company and Swanson and let them know you appreciate their support for LGBT families.
| Douglas Conant, President douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com Anthony Sanzio, Dir. of Corporate Communications anthony_sanzio@campbellsoup.com Campbell Soup Company Swanson |
As we enter 2009, anti-gay forces continue to try and silence our community and make us invisible. We must tell our stories, ensure that media is inclusive of our community, and remind people of the common ground that we all share now more than ever.
GLAAD’s media advocacy and anti-defamation work is so vital and your support is so necessary. Our organization exists because of generosity of people like you and we need your support now more than ever at this critical time in the movement. PLEASE DON’T STOP GIVING.
End the year by telling Campbell’s their ads are “mmm mmm good” and help GLAAD fight anti-gay defamation and promote LGBT-inclusive media. On behalf of GLAAD, thank you for your support. Your role in our alliance strengthens us and renews our hope for 2009.
Janice Langbehn Interviewed by ChristineOleary – imgay.tv
December 25, 2008 — rwavesofchangeThis speaks volumes of my love for lisa then and now
more about "Janice Langbehn Interviewed by Christ…", posted with vodpod
buttons
December 11, 2008 — rwavesofchangesome are round, some are square
some are easily pushed, others take effort
some let you cross the street, other stop you in your tracks
we all have them internally and externally
the common human experience are the buttons we push
to call the elevator or to enter a building
or to get a “rise” out of someone and bringing on angst
i don’t hide my buttons well, do you? i forgive easily and expose that big red button again that says “push me” over and over again
others cover their buttons with the plexiglass of “to deal or no deal” that no one can touch but them – how fortunate those humans are
but maybe they are missing and important piece of that common human experience of pushing buttons either internally or externally
kids learn early they want to “push the button” for the elevator – maybe that should be changed, take turns, not push it and just take the stairs maybe there would be peace finally
jkl
i know, i know
December 7, 2008 — rwavesofchangei know i’m horrible in updating 2 blogs and i’ve let the lines blur between them, I will work on separating out my rants back to this one. i have received several emails asking about the lawsuit. the latest is that we filed the suit (you knew that) all players were served (you knew that too) so JMH (the hospital) asked for an extension, received it then they filed a response to our filing, we responded to their response.. now they received an extension until 12/19 to file the file response to or filing. Then Judge Jordan (South District Florida – Federal) will rule on the motions before him, if there is matters of law to be heard. no evidence has been exchanged at this level and it’s unlikely any oral arguments will be heard at this stage. So my unofficial guess is we will not know the outcome of the filing and following motions until after the holidays. I will let you know when I know.
Peace
“Prop 8 – The Musical” starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more… from FOD Team, Jack Black, Craig Robinson, John C Reilly, and Rashida Jones
December 4, 2008 — rwavesofchange
more about ""Prop 8 – The Musical" starring Jack …", posted with vodpod
Miami Herald | LAURA FIGUEROA | February 7, 2009 07:30 PM