Details continue to emerge surrounding the arrest of a gay man in Kansas City, Mo., after he refused to leave his partner's hospital bed on Tuesday.
Roger Gorley and his husband, Allen Mansell, have been in a civil union for five years and have legal power of attorney to make medical decisions for one another, Gorley explained to Fox 4 News on Wednesday.
Mansell's brother, Lee, reportedly called paramedics when his brother did not respond to phone calls on Tuesday, and arrived at Mansell and Gorley's home along with police and paramedics. Allen Mansell struggles with clinical depression, and has previously recieved electroshock therapy treatment at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. Allen Mansell was reportedly fading in and out of consciousness, which his brother says led paramedics to transport Allen and admit him to Research Medical Center on Tuesday.
When Gorley arrived at the hospital, Lee Mansell was already on-site, and the two men began to argue about who should make medical decisions for Allen. The argument escalated, and Gorley was forcibly removed from his husband's hospital room, arrested, and charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.
Now Lee Mansell, Allen's brother, is speaking out for the first time since the story made national news earlier this week. Mansell says he isn't homophobic, and just wants the best for his brother and his husband. Nevertheless, Mansell did confirm to Kansas City's KHSB that he tried to override Gorley's power of attorney and make medical decisions for his brother.
"I know the conversation got a little heated, and the nurse had come in the first time and said 'you two need to leave the room,' so we kind of quieted down for a minute," Lee told KSHB. "Roger wanted me to leave the room, and I told him 'well, no, you need to leave the room' and the nurses came in the second time and said 'you both need to leave the room.'"
When Gorley refused to leave his husband's bedside, a nurse called hospital security, who forcibly wrested Gorley away from his husband's bed.
"Hospital security came, and it started to hit me on my wrist," Gorley told KHSB. "[They] hit me ... because I was holding on, and they kept hitting and kept hitting and kept hitting."
Gorley said security officers tackled him to the ground, knocking his hearing aids from his ears and making him bleed. Shortly thereafter, Kansas City police officers arrived on the scene and arrested Gorley.
Lee Mansell says he was sympathetic to Gorley's situation, and didn't request his brother's husband be arrested.
"I was kind of scared for him, and I was upset for Allen," Lee told KHSB. "I love Roger like I do my brother ... it's heart-wrenching for me to see my brother's husband being taken away."
Notably, however, nothing in Mansell's statements directly contradicts the series of events conveyed by Gorley's 26-year-old daughter, Amanda Brown, on Friday. Brown contends that hospital security used excessive force in restraining her father, and that the nurse on duty refused to check Mansell's file, which Brown says contains a copy of the couple's power of attorney agreements.
The hospital on Friday reiterated its previous statements alleging that Gorley was "disruptive and belligerent," maintaining that staff "followed the same policies tat would apply to any individual engaged in this behavior in a patient care setting and was not in any way related to the patient's or the visitor's sexual orientation and marital status."
"We would also like to correct the misinformation about a restraining order," Research Medical Center told KHSB Friday. "There was no issue of a restraining order by the hospital," and Gorley has been allowed to visit his husband in the hospital on Thursday and Friday, reports KHSB.
Watch KHSB's report, featuring interviews with Lee Mansell and Gorley, below.
