NEWS RELEASE
March 21, 2005

EQUALITY MARYLAND
Contact: Dan Furmansky, Executive Director
Phone:    Office 301-587-7500
Cell    301-461-4900
Email:  dan@equalitymaryland.org

MEDICAL DECISION MAKING ACT RECEIVES FAVORABLE REPORT BY SENATE COMMITTEE

Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee Was Former Stumbling Block to Bill's Passage

Annapolis - Equality Maryland, Maryland's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organization, praised the majority of legislators on the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee who issued a favorable report Friday on Senate Bill 796, the Medical Decision Making Act, sponsored by Vice Chair Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore City). This legislation will allow unmarried couples to make critical medical decisions for each other and honor each other's post-mortem wishes. The Committee passed the bill 7-3.

"The number of stories of individuals who could not be with their partners during times of sickness, death, childbirth, and surgery is appalling," said Executive Director Dan Furmansky. "The Medical Decision Making Act will offer peace of mind to more than 110,000 unmarried couples Maryland at the most critical times in life."

The Medical Decision Making Act is sponsored in the House by Delegate John A. Hurson (D-Montgomery County), chair of the Health and Government Operations Committee. The bill passed the House of Delegates in 2004 by a vote of 103-30, with broad bi-partisan support, only to fail by one vote in Senate committee. The bill includes the right to be treated as an immediate family member for purposes of hospital visitation, the right to share a room with a partner in a nursing home, and the right to arrange for the final disposition of a deceased partner's remains, among other rights. The vast majority of rights in the bill cannot be achieved through advanced directive, power of attorney, or wills.

"I pray that the Senate moves expeditiously to pass this important bill and that the Governor wastes no time in signing it into law," said Hagerstown resident John Lestitian, who was only allowed to carry out the wishes of his late partner, Jim, for cremation and placement of ashes, after negotiating with Jim's estranged father. "No one should have to bear the pain that I have."

VOTE BREAKDOWN: