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Linda Ellis, executive director of the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative, led a Feb. 8 training session for DeKalb County health workers. (Photo by Matt Schafer)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: MATT SCHAFER
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In the final moments of Janice Langbehn-Pond’s life, the power of attorney she fastidiously filled out didn’t stop her from dying alone. Her partner and children sat a room away, unable to see her or make medical decisions.
Lisa and Janice Langbehn-Pond created durable powers of attorney for each other, living wills and advance directives — all the documents gay men and lesbians are told will protect them in case of tragedy. But without copies in hand during a trip, the papers were worth nothing.
A year ago this week, the Langbehn-Pond family settled in for a gay "R Family" cruise. But while the ship was still docked in a Miami port, Lisa suffered a brain aneurysm on Feb. 18, 2007, and died a few hours later in a local hospital. The hospital required Janice to have the power of attorney faxed from her home in Portland, Ore., before doctors would discuss her partner’s condition, or let her see her.
Linda Ellis, executive director of the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative, discussed the Langbehn-Pond family's tragedy in a Feb. 8 presentation to DeKalb County health care workers. Gay couples can never count on receiving fair treatment, Ellis said.
“My partner and I both have power of attorney forms for each other, and whenever we leave Atlanta we carry them with us,” Ellis said. “While I trust that my local practitioner will treat us as a couple, if we get into an accident in Cordele on the way to the beach, I don’t trust wherever we end up to recognize my partner.”
One of ALHI’s goals is to hold training seminars to educate healthcare workers on gay and lesbian medical and procedural issues. Most of those who attended the recent meeting deal with HIV and STDs. They were familiar with gay issues, but most knew nothing about lesbian issues.
Carlos Pavao, a community administrator for the DeKalb Board of Health, helped organize the workshop titled “Effective Outreach for the Gay and Lesbian Community.” He said ALHI offered the training with no state or local funds to defray costs.
“I didn’t realize some things, like focusing on language,” said Christine Palomino, a registered nurse at DeKalb Medical Center. “There isn’t a lot about lesbian health concerns. Even our procedures and protocols address gay men with HIV and AIDS, but don’t mention lesbians.”
Questions from attendees ranged from “What does the Q in LGBTQ stand for?” to “I have patients who believe they aren’t at risk for STDs because they are lesbians.”
Cassie Berlin of Mothers Offering Resources & Education, asked, “What would you say to a teenage lesbian who is struggling coming out to her parents?”
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“It gave me a greater understanding of how to communicate with people so that you’re more sensitive to their needs,” Berlin said.
Some practitioners consider women to be sexually inactive once they tell their doctors they are lesbians, because they are not considered to have sex with men. Many information forms assume a patient is heterosexual. Issues as simple as asking about birth control and relationship status can frighten off lesbians and gay men in need of medical treatment, Ellis said.
“I am going to take the time tell you I’m not married, I’m not single, widowed. I will write in the margins that I am in a committed relationship with another woman, but that’s me,” Ellis said. “Some people would rather not go to the doctor than answer those questions.”
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