Posted on 04/21/2010 7:45:48 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
A King County jury on Wednesday ruled that a nurse did not violate the constitutional and legal rights of a Seattle woman who was barred from her domestic partner's hospital room in the hours before the woman died. Sharon Reed believed nurse Karen Hulley pushed her from the room at the University of Washington Medical Center in September 2005 because Hulley was opposed to her sexual orientation, according to Reed's lawyer. But jurors on Wednesday deliberated only about 40 minutes before voting 10-2 to dismiss Reed's suit, which sought $600,000 in damages. In May 2006, Reed sued Hulley, AMN Healthcare, the health-care staffing agency that placed Hulley at the hospital, and the UW Medical Center for causing emotional distress, violation of her constitutional rights and reckless disregard of her legal rights. The suit against UW was later dismissed, but over the past eight days a jury heard the civil case against the remaining two defendants in King County Superior Court. Hulley, a 32-year-old who has since returned to her home state of Tennessee, was accused in the lawsuit of being determined to keep the lesbian couple apart because of homophobia. But the defense claimed Reed, 71, upset her partner JoAnn Ritchie and interfered with her care as the woman fought for her life.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
“Why didnt these women have each other on the list of people allowed to see them in the hospital?
From the article-
“Reed had legal documentation of their relationship that outlined her right to oversee her partner’s health care, according to Judith Lonnquist, Reed’s lawyer. Lonnquist said that Hulley never read the documents.”
The nurse testified that she barred the woman from the room not because of a the homosexual connection between the two, but because her presence was agitating the patient and because of that the patient’s condition was being negatively affected.
I hope I don’t burn out too early Goat Granny since I am in the beginning of my career but if I do I hope I can count on you for advice about raising my own goats....but really I want my own chickens.
We started out with banty's and it took about 5 eggs to make up for 1 chicken egg..their eggs are small..:O)
But I bet you found as I did that visitors descending on a person in the hospital is not always the best and many visitors don't realize that. Its really not their fault and when explained to them in the hall most are thankful that I have explained to them why I requested to them what I did...and they have no problem with following rules once it is explained to them..
We got our daughter, who is 17, has a subscription to Mother Earth News. We found some chicken coop plans that we liked in there. Hopefully, our dream of chickens will come true one day. (For some reason, my baby girl is into....old fashioned things. She taught herself to knit and crochet, she wants to learn how to quilt and hunt. She bugged my husband to help her start her own garden in her own corner of the back yard. She also wants to learn to cook over an open fire. She is smart, charming, beautiful...and slightly loopy. We love her though.)
I also got into raising Ringneck Pheasants and Chinese Red golden Pheasants. But I had bought a table top incubator and got the eggs from a friend (that had a rooster). My grandkids loved to see the baby chicks moving inside the eggs when I would candle them...
Your daughter sounds like a sweet gal....lucky you...When we bought the farm (it was 100 years old) and already had barns and a coop so we were lucky, it also had an old ice house and milk house. Over the years it had been many things including a dairy farm... Have a great weekend. GG
Like me you have also probably had visitors walk into an isolation room without proper hospital garb that is sitting outside the room...I have had patients in respiratory isolation and had visitors get mad when you tell them to gown and mask, even gloves for some...
But most people are thankful for the information a nurse tells them...GG
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