And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic

by Randy Shilts

The most recent innovation Morrison instituted concerned visiting privileges in a patient’s final days. Normally, the ailing man’s biological family was given all prerogatives in deciding who saw a patient in the critical care unit. However, an unseemly conflict had arisen recently when one patient’s mother marched into her dying son’s room and ordered out his longtime lover. “I’m his mother and I don’t want any faggots in this room,” she announced brusquely. “And I don’t want any of those nurses who are faggots. They did this to him.” The patient broke down crying but was unable to speak because he was on a ventilator. A few days later, he died without seeing his lover again. Morrison announced the new 5B policy: that all patients designate their significant others who would have visiting privileges. As far as Morrison was concerned, the definition of the American family had changed. It should be the right of patients themselves to define their families, not the right of the hospital.