Patient Rights and Responsibilities

1. Impartial admission, room assignment and services regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, communicable disease or source of payment for care. Communicable diseases may sometimes dictate room assignments.
2. Considerate and respectful care with recognition of his/her dignity.
3. Every consideration of privacy concerning his/her personal medical care programs. Patient may refuse to talk with or see anyone not officially connected with the Hospital including visitors and employees not directly involved with his/her care.
4. Wear appropriate personal clothing and religious or other symbolic items, as long as they do not interfere with diagnostic procedures or treatment.
5. Be interviewed and examined in surroundings designed to assure reasonable audio/visual privacy and to have a person of his/her own sex present during certain parts of physical examination, treatment or procedure performed by a health professional of the opposite sex and to remain disrobed no longer than is required to accomplish the medical purpose for which the patient was asked to disrobe.
6. Expect that any discussion or consultation involving his/her case will be conducted discreetly, and that individuals not directly involved in his/her care will not be present without his/her permission.
7. Expect all communications and records pertaining to his/her care, including the source of payment, to be treated as confidential.
8. Request a transfer to another room if another patient or visitors are unreasonably disturbing him/her by their actions.
9. Be placed in protective privacy when considered necessary by Hospital personnel for personal safety.
10. Expect reasonable safety insofar as Hospital practice and environment are concerned.
11. Know the identity and professional status of individuals providing service to him/her, and know which physician or practitioner is primarily responsible for his/her care. This includes the patient’s right to know of the existence of any professional relationship among individuals who are treating him/her as well as the relationship to any other health care or educational institutions involved in his/her care. Participation by patients in clinical training programs or in the gathering of data for research purposes should be voluntary.
12. Obtain from the practitioner responsible for the coordination of his/her care, complete information concerning the diagnosis (to the degree known), treatment, and any known prognosis. The information should be communicated in terms that the patient can reasonably be expected to understand. When it is not medically advisable to give such information to the patient, the information should be made available to a legally authorized individual.
13. Have access to people outside the Hospital by means of visitors and by verbal or written communications.
14. Reasonable informed participation in decisions involving his/her care. To the degree possible, this should be based on a clear, concise explanation of his/her condition and of all proposed technical procedures, including the possibilities of any risk of mortality or serious side effects, problems related to recuperation and the probability of success. The patient should not be subjected to any procedure without his/her voluntary, competent, informed consent, or that of his/her legally authorized representative. When medically significant, alternatives for care or treatment exist, the patient shall be so informed.
15. If receiving pain care at the Hospital, describe his/her pain experience with the expectation that the description will be accepted and respected as the best indicator of his/her pain and subsequently receive pain care that is administered with dignity by professionals who consider each patient to be a unique individual worthy of compassionate care.
16. Access to an interpreter if the patient does not speak or understand the predominant language of the community. The Hospital will obtain a suitable interpreter where language barriers exist.
17. Know who is responsible for authorizing and performing the procedure or treatment.
18. Be informed if the Hospital proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation or other research/educational projects affecting his/her care or treatment, and the patient has the right to refuse to participate in any such activity.
19. Consult with a specialist at his/her own personal expense.
20. Refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law. When refusal of treatment by a patient or his/her legally authorized representative prevents the provision of appropriate care in accordance with ethical and professional standards, the relationship with the patient may be terminated upon reasonable notice.
21. Not be transferred to another facility unless he/she has received a complete explanation of the need of the transfer and of the alternatives to such a transfer. A patient may not be transferred to another facility except on order of his/her physician and unless the transfer is acceptable to the other facility.
22. Be informed by the practitioner responsible for his/her care, or his/her delegate, of any continuing health care requirements following his/her discharge from the Hospital.
23. Right to request and receive itemized and detailed explanation of his/her bill of services rendered in this Hospital regardless of the source of payment for his/her care. The patient has the right to timely notice prior to termination of his/her eligibility for reimbursement by any third party payer for the cost of his/her care.
24. Be informed of the Hospital’s rules and regulations applicable to his/her conduct as a patient. Patients are entitled to information about the Hospital/s mechanism for the initiation, review and resolution of patient complaints.
25. To be free from abuse, neglect, and harassment.
26. To be treated with consideration and respect.
27. To be free from restraints and seclusion of any form that is not medically necessary.
28. Reasonable protection of personal items.
29. To access his/her clinical record information.
30. To limit access to all information regarding patients to those individuals designated by law, regulation and policy.
31. To participate in plan of care and discharge planning, including being informed of service options that are available to the patient and a choice of agencies which provide service

Patient Rights of a Minor