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Home 9 Patients & Visitors 9 Patient Bill of Rights

Patient Bill of Rights

You have the right to:

1. 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 participate in the development and implementation of your plan of care.

2. Your representative (as allowed under State Law) has the right to make informed decision regarding your care. The patient’s rights include being informed of his or her health status, being involved in care planning and treatment, and being able to request or refuse treatment. This right must not be construed as a mechanism to demand the provision of treatment or services deemed medically unnecessary or inappropriate.

Patient Bill of Rights

3. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.

4. Know the name of the licensed health care practitioner acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure, who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care, and the names and professional relationships of physicians and non- physicians who will see you.

5. Receive information about your health status, diagnosis, prognosis, course treatment, prospect 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 ethical questions that arise in the course of your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services, and forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining- treatment.

6. 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.

7. 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 members of the medical staff, to the extent permitted law.

8. Be advised if the hospital/licensed health care practitioner acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting your care or treatment. You have the right to be fully informed of and to consent or refuse to participate in any unusual, experimental or research project without compromising his/her access to services.

9. Reasonable responses to any reasonable request made for services.

10. To be informed of the right to have pain treated as effectively as possible. The right to appropriate assessment and management of your pain, information about pain, pain relief measures and to participate in pain management decision. 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 the opiate medication, but if so must inform you that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of severe chronic pain with methods that include the use of opiates.

11. The right to formulate advance directives to have hospital staff and practitioners who provide care in the hospital comply with these 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. All patients’ rights apply to the person who has legal reasonability to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf, without coercion, discrimination or retaliation.

12. Have your 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.

13. The right to the confidentiality of his or her clinical records. The right to confidential treatment of all communication and records pertaining to your care and 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 you protected health information.

14. The right to receive care in a safe setting. The right to be free from all forms of abuse or harassment. To be 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 governmental agencies of neglect or abuse.

15. The right to be free from restraints and seclusion of any form that are not medically necessary or are used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff.

16. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of the persons providing care.

17. Be informed by the physician, or a delegate of the physician, of continuing health care requirements and options following discharge from the hospital. You have the right to be involved in the development and implementation of your discharge plan. Upon your request, a friend or family member may be provided this information also.

18. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.

19. Designate a support person as well as visitors of your choosing, if you have decision making capacity, whether or not the visitor is related by blood, marriage, or registered domestic partner status, unless:

a) No visitors Allowed

b) We have reasonably determined 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 our facility, or would significantly disrupt

the operations of the facility

c) You have communicated to our staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit

However, we may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors. We must inform you (or your support person, where appropriate) of your visitation rights, including any clinical restrictions or limitations. We are not permitted to restrict, limit or otherwise deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.

20. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for the purpose of determining who may visit. The method of that consideration will comply with federal law and be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include any persons living in your household and any support person pursuant to federal law.

21. The right to access the cost, itemized when possible, of services rendered within a reasonable period of time as well the right to examine and receive an explanation of the hospital’s bill regardless of the source of payment.

22. Exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, medical condition, marital status, registered domestic partner status, genetic information, citizenship, primary language, immigration status (except as required by law) or the source of payment for care.

23. You have the right to know the professional status of any person providing his/her care/ services. The right to know the reason for any proposed change in the professional staff responsible for his/her care.

24. The right to access information contained in his or her clinical records within a reasonable time frame. The hospital must not frustrate the legitimate efforts of individuals to gain access to their own medical records and must act quickly as its record keeping system permits.

25. The right to know the reasons for his/her transfer either within or outside the hospital.

26. The relationship (s) of the hospital to other persons or organizations participating in the provision of his/her care.

27. The right to be informed of the source of the hospital’s reimbursement for his/her services, and of any limitations which may be placed upon his/her care.

28. The patient’s family has the right of consent for tissue and organ donation. (see organ donation)

29. The right to interpretive services for certain individual who speak languages other than English, alternative communication techniques or aides for those who are deaf or blind, or other steps as needed to effectively communicate.

30. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing or by calling the hospital. The risk management/ performance improvement department will review each grievance and provide you with a written response within 7 days. If the grievance is not resolved within 7 days a follow up call will be made every 30 days until the grievance is resolved. The written response will contain the name of a person to contact at the hospital, the steps taken to investigate the grievance, the results of the grievance process, and the date of completion of the grievance process. Concerns regarding quality of care or premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Utilization and Quality Control Peer- Review Organization (PRO).

To file a complaint with the California Department of Public Health regardless of whether you use the hospital’s grievance process. The California Department of Public Health’s phone number and address is:

San Bernardino County:
464 W. 4th Street, Suite 529
San Bernardino, CA 92401
909-383-4777

Los Angeles County:
3400 Aerojet Avenue, Suite 323
El Monte, CA 91731
626-569-3724

Orange County:
681 S. Parker, Suite 200
Orange, CA 92868
714-567-2906

San Diego County (South Office):
7575 Metropolitcan Drive, Suite 211
San Diego, CA 92108
619-688-6190

Chico District office:
126 Mission Ranch Boulevard
Chico, CA 95926
530-895-6711
Toll Free: 800-554-0350

31. To file a complaint with an Accreditation Program, the phone number and address is:

The Joint Commission
​One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
800-994-6610

Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program, HFAP
142 East Ontario Street
Chicago, IL 60611
800-621-1773