Due to a lack of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, the LGBT community is faced with barriers in the healthcare industry that can make the circumstances of care giving even more stressful.Healthcare agencies must ensure that their visitation policies are inclusive of the LGBT community.
Surrogate medical decision-making refers to the legal procedures that are triggered by the mental incapacity of a patient and their subsequent inability to direct the course of their own medical treatment. Two major aspects of surrogate medical decision-making are advance healthcare directives and default state laws that select a surrogate when an incapacitated patient lacks an advance healthcare directive.
An advance healthcare directive is an individual healthcare instruction or a power of attorney for healthcare.
From time to time, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is incorrectly cited as an obstacle to hospital visitation rights and decision making authority for LGBT families. On the contrary, HIPAA specifically provides a mechanism for patients to indicate their wishes in these areas.
The Welcoming Schools Guide is a new, comprehensive resource for creating LGBT-inclusive elementary schools. It includes tools, lessons and resources on family diversity, gender stereotyping and name-calling.