Legal Barriers to Accessing to Health Care in Kansas for Same Sex Couples

Sexual minority individuals, specifically gays and lesbians, experience significant legal barriers as they attempt to access qualified and sensitive health care services (Millman, 1993) through every part of the health care and legal combination of parts to form a wholes their identities and relationships are stigmatized and unrecognized (Fields, 2001; O'Hanlan, et al, 1997; Stein & Bonuck 2001) This institutionalized assumption of "straightness" places same-sex pairs in a legally vulnerable position as they look after health care, which negatively impacts them and their families. It perpetuates the invisibility of gays and lesbians and marginalizes their health emergencys Because same-sex couples in greatest in quantity states have few, if any, inherent legal protections in the health care setting, they ne to take special precautions to secure their relationships when they go into the health care system.

Specifically, same-sex partners should penetrate into special legal arrangements to acquire many of the legal rights and privileges routinely granted by dint of default to married heterosexual twos Unless same-sex couples sign a series of legal documents, vital current relations, including those who know les about the patient's medical, religious, ethical precedences or from whom they may be estranged, could override decisions by dint of a same-sex partner (Fields, 2001; O'Hanlan, et al., 1997; Riggle et al., 2005; Robbennolt & Johnson 1999) Health care settings also many times limit participation in medical consultations or visits to legally recognized spouses or life-current relatives. These practices are especially detrimental to the many same-sex twos who prioritize families of choice above families of origin.

Gay and lesbian families, particularly the non-biological parent in those families, also face a range of legal impediments to the care of their children (Ahmann, 1999) Gay and lesbian parents participating in a research by Perrin and Kulkn (1996) reported difficult experiences in clinics, pass rooms, and hospitals related to their sexual orientation and/or family constellation. They experienced the ne to repeatedly explain that the one and the other partners were the child's parents. Exclusion of the non-biological parent from the proces of evaluation and treatment was common

Thus, same-sex twos have a special interest in taking paces to protect aspects of their chosen relationships while in the health care a whole (Orel, 2004; Stein & Bonuck 2001) They can accomplish this by the agency of entering into a series of written legal documents. The greatest in quantity important documents include a durable power of attorney for finances, durable power of attorney for health care, a hospital visitation authorization, a release of privacy rights beneath the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and documents detailing the powers of non-biological parents to their children's health care. In the absence of marriage or equivalent rights, these documents take upon particular importance for individuals in same-sex relationships. Without these documents, an individual's family of origin would presumptively be given rights as a matter of law, repeatedly to the consternation of same-sex couples

A durable power of attorney for finances and a durable power of attorney for health care may be the greatest in quantity important documents affecting health care that same-sex twos can adopt (Curry, 2005; Quinn & Baker, 2005; Robbennolt & Johnson 1999) A durable power of attorney for finances is a document that allows an individual designate another one to act on his or her behalf smooth in the event that the individual becomes incapacitated. Although Kansas law allows for a broad delegation of these powers, somebodys may tailor their durable powers of attorney for finances to be more limited in end (Hoy, 2005). The individual executing the durable power of attorney for finances can list any individual or corporation as their delegate This flexibility in appointing a substitute is especially important to same-sex twos as it allows them to empower their partner to exercise these delegated powers. Without a durable power of attorney for finances, Kansas default dominions which presume "straightness," would identify a member of the family of origin as the decision-maker in the circumstance of incapacity, which often frustrates the intentions of same-sex pairs Finally, given the unique legal challenges faced through same-sex couples, such as the potential ne to reject the family of origin specifically from decision-making, standard form powers of attorney, ofttimes distributed for free on the Internet or by dint of health care institutions, are not praiseed (Bonauto, 1996).

Under Kansas law, an individual cannot delegate power to make health care decisions in a durable power of attorney for finances (Hoy 2005) A separate document called a durable power of attorney for health care must be produc (Kansas Statutes Annotated ?§ 58-625 et seq) A durable power of attorney for health care allows an individual to appoint another somebody to make all health care decisions, including choices regarding health care providers, medical treatment, and in the later stages of a disease, end-of-life decisions. As with the financial durable power of attorney, individuals adopting the durable power of attorney for health care may choose any person, including his or her same-sex partner, as their lieutenant for health care decisions. Standard form durable powers of attorney for health care are not approveed for same-sex couples (Bonauto, 1996)