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Brown herself posted a lengthy and eloquent account of what happened to her father and the events leading up to what happened in the hospital at the following address: http://www.weareatheism.com/arrested-at-hospital-just-for-wanting-to-hold-his-partners-hand/
Below is an excerpt of Brown's post, which gives you a very good idea of why KC's Medical Research Center is stonewalling critical details of its appalling behavior in this episode and is now playing an absurdly Sisyphean game of social media whack-a-mole against an hailstorm of critical comments on its Facebook page.
By the way, Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed reports that federal officials are looking into possible regulatory violations by Medical Research Center.
At President Obama's direction during his first term, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued regulations mandating that hospitals that receive Medicaid or Medicare funds allow patients the right to have visitors of their choosing, regardless of sexual orientation.While you're waiting for Amanda Brown's website to come back up, read this excerpt from her hair-raising recounting of what happened.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which enforces the regulations through coordination with the states, is looking into the situation. CMS spokesman Brian Cook told BuzzFeed Thursday afternoon, "CMS is aware of this specific issue and we are working to gather the facts and determine what steps to take in a speedy manner."
...Due to Allen’s state at that precise moment the police decided to take him to the hospital against his will stating he was a “danger to himself”. I immediately called my father and told him to leave work and get to the hospital. The paramedics and police were not listening to me they were listening to the brother and the sister.
The reason that listening to them was a big problem is because they have no idea what Allen’s medical conditions are, who his doctors are, and what hospital he is normally treated at. Allen and all of his doctors are located at St. Luke’s in Lee’s Summit MO. The ONLY reason he goes to Research Medical Center is for his ECT. I told the police and paramedics this 3 times! Not only that I know his medical conditions and what he needs NOT his siblings. My father and his husband trust me with this information because they know I will fight for their rights to each other. That I will never allow something like this to happen if I can help it. But when no one is listening no matter how hard you scream it will fall onto deaf ears.
After I pack up the house, my daughter, and arrange plans for someone to come and get her at the hospital because I have no idea how long I will need to be there we arrive all at the same time to see Allen received by the nursing staff and my Dad, Roger Gorley, follows him in along with Lee, Allen’s brother. This is when things started to get ugly.
Roger immediately rushed to Allen’s side, grabbed his hand, and reassured him everything will be ok. He will handle everything. He is in good hands and they will be going home as soon as possible. His brother Lee decided to say similar things but to also add in that he will not allow Roger to make these decisions and he will make sure everything is ok. Well that ignited the fire in my father that had been swelling up inside of him. He said, “No you won’t! This is my husband. I know what he wants and needs. You are never around. You need to leave.”
The nurse had had enough at this point and asked my father to leave. He gave her a surprised look back and said “No I’m staying with my husband.” She responded with “I know who you two are. You need to leave.” My father took this as she had treated Allen before, knew who my father was to him, and was making the decision that they didn’t have the right to one another as husband and husband. So instead of checking the file to see his power of attorney in his medical chart (they each have one for each other) she immediately called the police and had my father forcibly removed.
7pm CST
When the Kansas City Missouri Police Department arrived they asked my father to leave the room. He said to them, “No. This is my husband and I am going to stay with him.” The police considered that a violation of a direct order so they began to forcibly remove him from the room. My father held onto the rail of the gurney as well as his husbands hand with everything he had. The police responded with brut and excessive force. The office began karate chopping his wrist to get him to release the gurney. Then they wrestled him to the ground forcefully enough to knock his glasses off of his face, his hearing aids out of his ears, and nearly break his wrist while they took him down. To handcuff him they pushed a knee into his back and wrenched his wrists around.
It didn’t end there. The police changed his handcuffs 4 times! They assumed because he was a gay man that he was HIV+. When they drew blood from accosting him in such a brutal manner they freaked out. One of the arresting officers was so offended by my father’s presence that he would not touch him with his bare hands. He wore gloves the entire time and to make matters even more humiliating he didn’t want his handcuffs back. He grabbed them with gloves on, then another layer of gloves pinched between his index finger and thumb as he handed them off to another officer. The officer taking the handcuffs looked at him like he was crazy and just grabbed the handcuffs with no issue.
My father, Roger Gorley, is a kind compassionate man. He doesn’t loose his temper, has never expressed violence in anger, and is so sweet he can’t even make threats to people properly...
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