Obama orders rule on hospital-visitation rights

The White House on Thursday issued a presidential memorandum ordering the Department of Health and Human Services to draw up rules to allow patients to decide who can visit them in the hospital. President Barack Obama was aiming at situations that make it difficult, if not impossible, for same-sex partners of patients to be at their bedsides over the objection of family members. The rules would affect any hospital receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding, which includes the vast majority of hospitals in the U.S.