As a patient, you have certain rights when you visit a doctor or hospital. Become familiar with your rights – listed below -- and learn what you can do to prepare for a doctor’s visit.
You have the right to:
1. Considerate and respectful care; to be made comfortable
2. Have a family member (or rep) and your physician notified of your admission to hospital
3. Know the name of the licensed health care practitioner who has responsibility for coordinating your care; names of physicians and non-physicians who will see you
4. Receive info about your health status, diagnosis, prognosis, course of treatment; effective communication in development of your plan of care; participate in ethical questions
5. Receive as much info about any proposed treatment or procedure as you need to give informed consent or to refuse a course of treatment
6. Request or refuse treatment, to the extent permitted by law; leave the hospital against advice of members of the medical staff, to the extent permitted by law
7. Be advised if hospital/health care practitioner proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting your care or treatment
8. Reasonable responses to any reasonable requests made for service
9. Appropriate assessment and management of your pain, information about pain, pain relief measures; participate in pain management decisions
10. Formulate advance directives; designating a decision maker if you become incapable of understanding a treatment or cannot communicate wishes
11. Have personal privacy respected
12. Confidential treatment of all communications and records
13. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or harassment
14. Be free from restraints and seclusion used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff
15. Reasonable continuity of care; know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of the persons providing the care
16. Be informed by the physician, or a delegate of the physician, of continuing health care requirements and options following discharge from the hospital
17. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient
18. Designate a support person; have visitors of your choosing unless no visitors allowed, facility determines presence of visitor would endanger patient, staff or visitor, or you have told facility you no longer want a person to visit
19. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for purposes of determining who may visit
20. Examine and receive explanation of hospital’s bill regardless of the source of payment
21. Exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, medical condition, marital status, registered domestic partner status, or source of payment for care
22. File a grievance
23. File a complaint with the California Department of Public Health
SOURCE: CA Hospital Association
