Ohio Republicans push hospitals to allow in-person visits during pandemics
Marylou Bordner started to cry as she described how hard it was to be banned from visiting her husband while he battled COVID-19.
"I didn’t think I was ever going to get to see him again or just touch him," Bordner said. "We’ve been together forever, since we were kids. It was so hard."
Her husband spent two weeks at Bellevue Hospital in northern Ohio in August 2021. His oxygen levels plummeted into the 70% range, and she had to rely on the nursing staff for updates.
"He got better, but it was the separation, I think, that added to our situation," she said.
And she's not alone. Hospitals across Ohio have reduced and/or restricted visitation since March 2020.
At the beginning of the pandemic, hospitals cited concerns about spreading COVID-19, access to personal protective equipment and a lack of vaccines as their reasons. Now, a pair of Republican lawmakers think the time has come to mandate visitation.
House Bill 324 would require hospitals to allow certain visitors unless there was a public health order prohibiting it. The list of visitors in the bill included family, caretakers, clergy, lawyers and “other individuals providing care or companionship to the patient.”
And exceptions to any public health order would be made for terminal patients.
"Our goal here is not to open hospital doors with unfettered access to patients without regard for health and safety," Rep. Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, said when he introduced the bill. "We simply wish to draw attention to the fact that companionship plays a huge role in mental and physical health."
Democratic Rep. Beth Liston, who works as a pediatrician, said she thinks that balance between patient rights and hospital safety can be achieved.
HB 324 would allow hospitals to take "reasonable safety precautions" like wearing masks, screening for diseases and limiting the total number of visitors allowed to see a patient at any given time.
"I want to make sure the bill walks that line," Liston said.
The Ohio Hospital Association hasn't taken a position on HB 324 yet. Spokesman John Palmer said they are still reviewing the details.
Anna Staver is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. It serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Republicans push hospitals to allow in-person visits
