Patient Rights and Responsibilities

Mission

To deliver clinical and service excellence through a ministry of physical, mental and spiritual healing. You, the patient, and/or when appropriate, family, have the following rights and responsibilities.

As a Patient You Have the Right:

1. To know by name the physician, nurses and staff members responsible for your care;
2. To talk openly with your physician, in language you may reasonably be expected to understand, about your diagnosis, the treatment prescribed for you, the prognosis of your illness and any instruction required for follow-up care;
3. To have your request courteously received and properly considered as quickly as circumstances permit;
4. To be informed of the reason you are given various tests and treatments and who the persons are who give them to you;
5. To be informed of the general nature and inherent risk of any procedure for which you have given your consent;
6. To change your mind about any procedure for which you have given consent or to refuse treatment and to be informed of the medical consequences of this action;
7. To complete information as to the reason for a transfer to another institution, if necessary (including the alternatives to such a transfer), and the knowledge that the other institution has accepted you for transfer;
8. To limit those persons who visit you. To expect your personal privacy to be respected to the fullest extent consistent with the care prescribed for you and applicable law;
9. To access pastoral care or other spiritual services;
10. To expect all communications and other records pertaining to your care, including the source of payment for treatment, to be kept confidential, to the extent required by law;
11. To request through your attending physician a second opinion by another physician; to change physicians; or to change hospitals;
12. To participate in ethical discussions that arise in the course of your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services, forgoing or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment and participation in investigational studies or clinical trials;
13. To access protective services, including guardianship, advocacy services, state and local licensure agencies and protective interventions;
14. On request, made within thirty days of either discharge or payment, to receive a hospital bill which is itemized and describes briefly but clearly each item and the amount charged for it;
15. To have impartial access to the medical resources of the hospital indicated for your care without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, age, sex, handicap or source of payment;
16. To refuse to participate in medical training programs and research projects;
17. To create Advance Directives (Living Will/Durable Power of Attorney) and appoint a surrogate to make health care decisions on your behalf to the extent permitted by law;
18. To care and treatment in a safe environment;
19. To have pain managed in a compassionate manner; and
20. To be informed about the outcomes of care, including unanticipated outcomes.

You, In Turn, Have the Responsibility:

1. To follow hospital rules and regulations;
2. To give cooperation and to follow the care prescribed or recommended for you by your physician, nurses or allied health personnel;
3. To notify your physician or nurse if you do not understand your diagnosis, treatment or prognosis;
4. To let the nurse and your family know if you feel you are receiving too many outside visitors;
5. To respect the privacy of other patients;
6. To accept your financial obligations associated with your care;
7. To advise your nurse, physician and/or Patient Representative (extension 6513) of any dissatisfaction you may have in regard to your care at the hospital; and
8. To be considerate of the rights of other patients and hospital personnel, to assist in the control of noise and to follow the hospital’s no-smoking, visitor and other policies.