Your Evening WTF: Man Gets Arrested and Slapped with a Restraining Order for Refusing to Leave Hospitalized Husband's Bedside

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Roger Gorley, a Lee’s Summit, Missouri resident, was reportedly thrown to the floor and arrested at the Research Medical Center in Kansas City on Tuesday after he refused to leave the bedside of his ailing husband Allen after a fellow family member requested that he remove himself.

Gorley is power of attorney in his husband’s affairs, a fact he claim went entirely ignored.

“I was not recognized as being the husband, I wasn’t recognized as being the partner…[The nurse] didn’t even bother to look it up, to check in to it,” he told Fox 4 News.

Even if Gorley wasn’t his husband’s power of attorney, the hospital’s actions could be considered illegal as in 2010, President Obama signed a memorandum ordering hospitals that receive government funding to allow visitations for same sex couples.

Gorley and his partner’s marriage is not recognized by the state of Missouri, but they have been in a civil union for the past five years.

The Research Medical Center has released this statement:

Research Medical Center was one of the first hospitals in Kansas City to offer domestic partner benefits, which have been in place since 2005, and we have had a policy specifically acknowledging domestic partners’ visitation rights in place for years.
This was an issue of disruptive and belligerent behavior by the visitor that affected patient care. The hospital’s response followed the same policies that would apply to any individual engaged in this behavior in a patient care setting and was not in any way related to the patient’s or the visitor’s sexual orientation or marital status. This visitor created a barrier for us to care for the patient. Attempts were made to deescalate the situation. Unfortunately, we had no choice but to involve security and the Kansas City MO Police Department.

Gorley has not been allowed to return to the hospital to visit his partner thanks to a restraining order put in place following his removal from the hospital. His son-in-law corroborates his side of the story.

Missouri man arrested at hospital for refusing to leave gay partner [Raw Story]

 
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