Legal Issues Surrounding L.G.B.T.

Care Presented by:

Josh Hyatt DHSc, MHL, CPHRMWest Coast University

Gaps in LGBT Care•Marriage Equality•Public Accommodation/Denial of a care•RFRA- Legislated discrimination•Insurance •Visitation(spouses, partners, and children)•Employment issues•Transgender rights

Gaps in LGBT Care (Cont.)•Infertility treatment refusal in religious grounds •Domestic violence•Not protecting staff•Denied medical leave for a sex change•Treated in a discriminatory way in a hospital, nursing home or care facility

•Separation of couples in nursing homes without medical care reasons

•FMLA

US Supreme Court•Marriage

•“Impeach! Punish! Defy!”•Baker v. Nelson (1972)

•King v. Burwell

Angela Jimenez for The New York Times

Public Accommodation•Refusing Care

•Michigan- Pediatrician refusing to establish care with infant of a lesbian couple (2015)

•California- Plastic surgeon refusing breast augmentation surgery to transgendered patient (2015)

•Taylor v. Lystila (2014)

•Poor Care•Rumble v. Fairfield Health Services and Emergency Physicians PA (2013)

RFRA•Religious Freedom and Restoration Acts (RFRA)

•Indiana•Arkansas•Michigan

•Allows for:•Refusal to provide care•Refusal to provide health insurance coverage•Impeding visitation rights

Protections for Refusal of Care

•Conscience Clauses

•First Amendment

Health Care Coverage•Denial of Insurance

•East v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (2014)

•Diaz v. Brewer (2014)•Medicaid coverage to SRS

•Connecticut (March 2015)•New York (Dec. 2014)•Oregon

ACA Coverage of Sex-specific Recommended Preventive Services

•HHS Issues Guidance on Transgender Inclusive Preventive Services(May 11, 2015)

•HHS issued strong guidelines to clarify “[h]ealth insurers cannot limit preventive services based on a person’s birth gender, gender identity or recorded gender.”

•Medical appropriateness of preventative care is determined by the individual’s attending physician.

Spousal Benefits•A lack of health insurance coverage for same-sex couples has been attributed to health disparities

•Opposite-sex individuals in relationships are more likely than LGBT individuals in same-sex relationships to have employee-sponsored insurance

Visitation and Discrimination Suits•Hard v. Bentley (filed (2013, still in process)•Gorley (2013)•Simonelli (2012)•Langbehn (2009)•Hastings (2008)

Decision Making / End-of-Life•Goodridge v. Department of Public Health (2003)

•Flanigan v. University of Maryland Medical System (2002)

Gay Blood Ban•FDA recommendation

•Reduce deferral period from GB men from lifetime to 1 year

Public Bathrooms

•Bathroom Bans- Transgender•Public•School

•EEOC:•Transgender and US Army•OSHA

Employment•Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

•EEOC v. Lakeland Eye Clinic, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, No. 8:14-cv-2421

•EEOC v. R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes•EEOC v. Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Regional University System of Oklahoma

•Cox v. Gregory Packaging’s Suncup

Execute the Gays Bill•Sodomite Suppression Act

"Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God's just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method." Matthew Gregory McLaughlin JD

Thank You

Questions and AnswersJosh Hyatt DHSc, MHL, CPHRM

Hyatt.josh@yahoo.com