Executive Office

1611 N.W. 12

AvenueMiami, Florida 33136-1096305-585-6754

April 16, 2010President Barack Obama The White House1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C. 20500Dear Mr. President, We would like to commend you for taking a strong stance against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in regard to hospital visitation rights. Jackson Health System (JHS) in Miami is proud to be anationwide leader in this effort. Jackson has always been inclusive of the homosexual, bisexual andtransgender community. Still, we recently updated all of our policies, including visitation, to make them evenmore specifically inclusive for any patient, family member or visitor who walks through our doors. Throughout this yearlong process, JHS worked with the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, as well asnational organizations including Alliance for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Youth;CenterLink; Equality Florida; Florida Together; Lambda Legal; Miami Workers' Center; Out with Cancer;Pride Center at Equality Park; SAVE Dade; and the Transgender Equality Rights Initiative.Included in our revised policies is a new definition of “family, family member and visitor” and a clearprocess for family and visitors to file and resolve policy disputes regarding patient access. Jackson’s missionis to provide one standard of quality care for all our patients. Equal treatment and care for everyone,regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or other aspects of personalidentity, is of paramount importance to our institution. We would also like to take this opportunity to provide you with some clarification on the allegations being made by Janice Langbehn, whose partner was treated at Jackson’s Ryder Trauma Center in 2007. From thebeginning, JHS has vehemently denied that Ms. Langbehn was denied visitation due to her sexualorientation. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed Ms. Langbehn’slawsuit against Jackson Memorial Hospital in September 2009.Ms. Langbehn’s allegations and those made by published articles, blogs, etc., are inaccurate and havedamaged the reputations and deeply hurt the feelings of the personnel in our trauma center. They havedevoted their careers to all who come through our doors, from all walks of life. JHS grants hospital visitation to all individuals equally, regardless of their relationship to the patient, as long as doing so does not interfere with the care being given to the patient or other patients in the area. With thatsaid, our first priority when a patient is brought to our trauma center is always to stabilize the patient andsave their life. As the only adult and pediatric Level 1 trauma center in Miami-Dade County to support apopulation of more than 2.3 million people, our facility is one of the busiest – and most renowned – in thenation.