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New York Appeal Court For Wrongful Death Case
In the first case in the nation that appropriately recognized a couple who entered into a Vermont civil union as spouses outside that state, Lambda Legal today asked an appeals court to uphold an earlier ruling that a gay man in New York is a legal spouse and able to sue St. Vincent’s Hospital for medical negligence leading to his longtime partner’s death.
John Langan in his fight to have his relationship with his spouse, Neal Conrad Spicehandler, treated equally. With last year’s decision, Langan won the right to sue St. Vincent’s Hospital for wrongful death medical malpractice leading to Spicehandler’s death argued successfully that because Langan and his partner were as legally bound to each other as the law then allowed a gay couple to be, the two men should be recognized as spouses. St. Vincent’s Hospital appealed the court’s decision last year.
The state court's decision was a tremendous victory for same-sex couples in New York and elsewhere," said Adam Aronson, the Lambda Legal staff attorney handling the case. "For many couples, a Vermont civil union is the strongest legal protection available for their relationship. They should be treated the same as any other spouses whether they're in Vermont or elsewhere." In 2000, Vermont enacted its Civil Union Law to extend the state benefits and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples. No state or court, before last year’s decision, had recognized a Vermont civil union outside of Vermont. In a ruling last April, Nassau County Supreme Court Justice John P. Dunne noted that “common-law” spouses from other states are regularly recognized as spouses in New York and said, “It is impossible to justify, under equal protection principles, withholding the same recognition from a union which meets all the requirements of a marriage in New York but for the sexual orientation of its partners.” New York law, he noted, does not define “spouses” as people of different sexes.
St. Vincent’s Hospital, in the heart of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, is asking the state court to block Langan from suing for wrongful death and medical malpractice, claiming that because he and Spicehandler were a gay couple, their 15-year relationship should not be recognized legally. Langan and Spicehandler were joined in a civil union in Vermont and also had several legal documents reflecting their relationship, and the hospital treated Langan as Spicehandler’s spouse throughout the medical ordeal.
A couple of days later, on Valentine’s Day, Spicehandler’s broken leg was operated on a second time. He, Langan and the rest of the family all thought he would be fine, and were told that he would be released from the hospital within a few days. Langan waited for Spicehandler to return from the surgery that night, visited with him and kissed him goodnight. Early the next morning, he was awoken by a call from St. Vincent’s Hospital telling him that Spicehandler was dead.
When St. Vincent’s was unable to satisfactorily explain how the routine surgery turned fatal, Langan and Spicehandler’s mother, Ruth, sued St. Vincent’s for wrongful death and medical malpractice. They seek to recover for Spicehandler’s pain and suffering before he died, as well as lost financial support. Last year’s ruling allows that case to proceed fully.
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