Here is a Patient Bill of Rights!

THE PATIENT BILL OF RIGHTS

•     The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care.

•    The patient has the right to obtain from his physician complete current information concerning his diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in terms the patient can be reasonably expected to understand.

•    The patient has the right to receive from his physician information necessary to give informed consent prior to the start of any procedure and/or treatment…Where medically significant alternatives for care or treatment exist or when the patient requests information concerning medical alternatives, the patient has the right to such information (and ) to know the name of the person responsible for the procedures and/or treatment.

•    The patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law, and to be informed of the medical consequences of his action.

•    The patient has the right to every consideration of his privacy concerning his own medical care program.

•    The patient has the right to expect that all communications and records pertaining to his care should be treated as confidential.

•    The patient has the right to expect that within its capacity a hospital must make reasonable response to the request of a patient for services.

•    The patient has the right to obtain information as to any relationship of his hospital to other health care and educational institutions insofar as his care is concerned (and) any professional relationships among individuals, by name, who are treating him.

•       The patient has the right to be advised if the hospital proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting his care or treatment (and) has the right to refuse to participate.

•    The patient has the right to expect reasonable continuity of care.

•    The patient has the right to examine and receive an explanation of his bill regardless of source of payment.

•    The patient has the right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply to his conduct as a patient.

From American Hospital Association: Nurs Outlook 24:29, 1976.

Here you go the patient bill of rights. A reminder for all of us not just in theory but to keep these rights in our hearts as we take good care of our patients.

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