Nevada Hospital Discriminates Against Lesbian Couple

Officials from a hospital in Nevada discriminated against a lesbian couple because they did not recognize the women's domestic partnership, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Brittney Leon, 26, and Terri-Ann Simonelli, 41, checked into Spring Valley Hospital, located in Clark County, Las Vegas, Nev., due to complications with Leon's pregnancy. An admissions officer told Simonelli that the hospital's policy states that she would have to secure power of attorney in order to make any decisions for Leon in case something went wrong, despite being in a domestic partnership.

The couple told the hospital officials that they would show them their domestic partnership document and that they had the same legal rights as a heterosexual couple but the admissions officer insisted it did not matter.

Leon ended up losing her baby.

"I am usually a big fighter. But I was so emotionally upset. It was a very bad day for us," Simonelli said. "We went there thinking we had the state's backing, and then we were told we were wrong. It didn't matter that we were registered domestic partners. It should matter."

A domestic partnership in Nevada grants same-sex couples all the same right as heterosexual married couples. The law states, "Domestic partners have the same rights, protections and benefits, and are subject to the same responsibilities, obligations and duties under law, whether derived from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common law or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses." One difference, however, is that employers do not have to provide health care benefits to same-sex couples.

A public relations representative at Spring Valley told the Review-Journal in a phone interview that the hospital's policy requires same-sex couples to have power of attorney in order to make medical decisions together. When the reporter for the publication asked if she was aware of the state's domestic partnership law, "she accused the reporter of bias and hung up the telephone."

The couple said they would not file a complaint or a lawsuit against the hospital, however. They said their mission is to bring more awareness about Nevada's domestic partnership law and equality for the LGBT community. They also told the publication that besides the incident, Spring Valley's employees treated them excellently and Leon's doctor frequently updated Simonelli when she was in surgery.

A liberal website, the New Civil Rights Movement, has dug up evidence that the hospital's parent company has close ties to Rick Santorum. From 2007 to 2011, the controversial former Pennsylvania senator served on the board of directors of Universal Health Services.

The website brought up "dozens of allegations" of abuse cases. In one facility UHS runs in Virginia for boys with mental-health issues, a teacher alleged that staff members tried an impromptu exorcism on a boy with severe autism.

"We understand there are people out there who are not going to welcome us with open arms," Simonelli said. "That it fine, but when it comes to a business, like a hospital, treat us fairly. When you step into a hospital, you are in a very vulnerable state."

Despite this incident, the Human Rights Campaign claims that the health care industry is steadily making improvements when it comes to LGBT people. The organization, however, says "much work remains to be done to end discrimination in America's healthcare system, the once invisible issue of LGBT health care equity is gaining national prominence, with healthcare facilities committing themselves to offering unbiased care."

The report rated 407 facilities and over 90 percent of participants have specific policies that prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual patients and over three-quarters protect transgender patients from discrimination, EDGEreported.

Despite the positive report, some hospitals still discriminate against same-sex couples. One of the highest-profile cases occurred in Miami, Fla., a few years ago when hospital officials refused to let Janice Langbehn visit her partner of 18 years while she was dying.

A similar occurred in December 2011, when doctors from a psychiatric hospital denied Val Burke access to her partner who was in the facility's residential unit.