President Barack Obama on April 15 ordered hospitals to recognize gay families for purposes of visitation rights and medical powers of attorney.

The mandate — contained in a memorandum instructing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to prepare and publish the actual rules — will apply to any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding, which is almost all hospitals.

“Gay and lesbian Americans … are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives — unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated,” Obama said.

“(A)ll too often, people are made to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying and pacing down the hall.”

The mandate also will prohibit hospitals from denying visitation privileges on the basis of gender identity.

By Rex Wockner