Clearly This Is A Good Thing...

...by which I mean Obama's order to hospitals to follow patients' wishes as to who may visit them/have decision-making powers. It's the right thing, it's such a basic human right for all people. But...

...I can't help wondering, why in the hell were hospitals refusing to allow visitors/PoAs in the first place? I can't imagine why a hospital would have people there whose job it was just to say 'you can go in, you can't' or why they would refuse to honor a PoA or other directive. I can understand limiting the number of visitors, or blocking small children, but it flabbergasts me that a medical facility would decide who was or wasn't allowed to visit a patient.