Obama Gives Gay Couples Hospital Visiting Rights

CBS4.com:

President Barack Obama has issued an executive order that extends hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners. The President's order was apparently inspired in part by the case of a woman who fell into a coma at Miami's Ryder Trauma Center while her life partner was made to stay in a waiting room.

The order, quietly issued by the Obama administration while the President was visiting Miami Thursday, directs that hospitals that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds must allow visitation and health care decisions to be left to patients. Mr. Obama points out in his order that it does not exclusively benefit same-sex partners, but that gays and lesbians are "uniquely affected… often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives."

Newt Gingrich said it best: "Obama is most radical President ever."