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Your Rights as a Patient
The right to considerate and respectful care, and to be made comfortable. You have the right to respect for your cultural, psychosocial, spiritual, and personal values, beliefs, and preferences.
You have the right to have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
The right to know the name of the physician who has the primary responsibility for coordinating the care and the names and professional relationships of other physicians and non-physicians who will see you.
The right to receive information about your health status, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and outcomes of care (including unanticipated outcomes) in terms you can understand. You have the right to effective communication and to participate in the development and implementation of your plan of care. You have the right to participate in ethical questions that arise in the course of your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services, and foregoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
The right to make decisions regarding medical care, and receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as you may need in order to give informed consent or to refuse a course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information shall include a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant risks involved, alternate courses of treatment or non-treatment and the risks involved in each, and the name of the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment.
The right to request or refuse treatment, to the extent permitted by law. However, you do not have the right to demand inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment or services. You have the right to leave the hospital even against the advice of physicians, to the extent permitted by law.
The right to be advised if the hospital/personal physician proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting your care or treatment. You have the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.
The right to resonable responses to any reasonable requests made for service.
The right to appropriate assessment and management of your pain, information about pain, pain relief measures and to participate in pain management decisions. You may request or reject the use of any or all modalities to relieve pain, including opiate medication, if you suffer from severe chronic intractable pain. The doctor may refuse to prescribe opiate medication, but if so, must inform you that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates.
The right to formulate advance directives. This includes designating a decision maker if you become incapable of understanding a proposed treatment or become unable to communicate your wishes regarding care. Hospital staff and practitioners who provide care in the hospital shall comply with these directives. All patient rights apply to the person who has legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf.
The right to have personal privacy respected. Case discussion, consultation, examination and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly. You have the right to be told the reason for the presence of any individual. You have the right to have visitors leave prior to an examination and when treatment issues are being discussed. Privacy curtains will be used in semi-private rooms.
The right to confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to the care and the stay in the hospital. You will receive a separate "Notice of Privacy Practices" that explains your privacy rights in detail and how we may use and disclose your protected health information.
The right to receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or harassment. You have the right to access protective and advocacy services including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.
The right to be free from restraints and seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff.
The right to reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of persons providing the care.
The right to be informed by the physician, or a delegate of the physician, of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital. Upon your request, a friend or family member may be provided with this information also.
The right to know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
The right to designate visitors of your choosing, if you have decision-making capacity, whether or not the visitor is related by blood or marriage, unless:
- No visitors are allowed.
- The facility reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of a patient, a member of the health facility staff or other visitor to the health facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility.
- You have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit.
However, a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and the number of visitors.
The right to have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for purposes of determining who may visit. The method of that consideration will be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include any persons living in your household.
The right to examine and receive an explanation of the hospital's bill regardless of the source of payment.
The right to exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation or marital status or the source of payment for care.
The right to file a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing or calling.
The right to file a complaint with the state Department of Health Services regardless of whether your use the hospital's grievance process.
These Patient Rights Incorporate the requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; Title 22, California Code of Regulations, Section 70707; and Medicare Conditions of Participation.
We encourage anyone believing that he or she has concerns including but not limited to decisions about patient care and/or safety, to contact:
- Your Physician, Your Nurse or Quality Management
- California Department of Health Services, 1-800-554-0352
- The Joint Commission, 1-800-994-6610, fax number: 1-630-792-5636 or email