Back to Table of ContentsPatient Information -
Patient Rights and Responsibilities
Patient Rights
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.
2. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing)
and your own physician notified promptly of your admission
to the hospital.
3. Know the name of the physician who has primary responsibility
for coordinating your care and the names and professional
relationships of other physicians and non-physicians who will
see you.
4. Receive information about your health status, diagnosis,
prognosis, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and outcomes
of care (including unanticipated outcomes) in terms you
can understand. You have the right to effective communications
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 forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
5. 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.
6. 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 the law.
7. Be advised if the hospital or 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.
8. Reasonable responses to any reasonable requests made for
service.
9. 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 the pain, including opiate
medications, 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 pain with methods that include the
use of opiates.
10. 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.
11. Have personal privacy respected. Case discussions, consultation,
examinations 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 semiprivate
rooms.
12. Confidential treatment of all communications 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 your
protected health information.
13. 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.
14. Be free from restraints and seclusion in any form used as
a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by
staff.
15. Reasonable continuity of care and to 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 healthcare 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
with this information also.
17. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct
while a patient.
18. 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 that you no longer want a
particular person to visit.
However, a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions
upon visitation, including the restrictions upon the hours of
visitation and number of visitors.
19. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making
capacity, for the 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.
20. Examine and receive an explanation of the 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, disability, sexual orientation, marital status or the
source of payment for care.
22. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this
hospital, you may do so by writing or calling:
Administration
1306 Maricopa Hwy., Ojai, CA 93023
805/646-1401
23. File a complaint with the State Department of Health Services
regardless of whether you use the hospital's grievance process.
The State Department of Health Service's phone number
and address are:
Department of Health Services
1889 N. Rice Ave., Suite 200, Oxnard, CA 93030
805/604-2926
24. Contact the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare
Organizations if you have any unresolved patient safety or
quality of care concerns by writing or calling:
Office of Quality Monitoring Joint Commission
on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
800/994-6610
These Patient Rights combine Title 22 and other California laws. Joint Commission and Medicare Conditions of Participation requirements. (4/05)
Patient Responsibilities
At Community Memorial Health System, we believe patients
and families are partners in ensuring that the best possible
care is provided in a healthful, safe environment. You can
participate in your healthcare by following these Patient
Responsibilities:
1. Provide, to the best of your knowledge, accurate and complete
information about present complaints, past illness, hospitalization,
medications, and other matters relating to your condition
to the responsible practitioner.
2. Provide upon admission a copy of your healthcare proxy or
any other advance directives or power of attorney forms, if you
have them.
3. Report any perceived risks in your care and unexpected
changes in your condition to your doctor, nurse or other member
of the healthcare team.
4. Follow the treatment plan that you and your healthcare team
have developed. This includes following the instructions of
healthcare staff who are involved in your care.
5. Develop a pain management plan with your doctor, nurse and
healthcare team including:
- asking for pain relief when pain first begins,
- helping your doctor and nurse assess your pain,
- tell your doctor or nurse if your pain is not relieved,
- tell your doctor or nurse about any worries you have about
taking pain medication.
6. Tell your nurse or doctor if you do not clearly understand the
proposed plan of care and what is expected of you. Ask questions
when you don't understand.
7. Keep appointments. When you are unable to do so for any
reason, notify the office appointment center in advance.
8. You are responsible for your actions if you refuse treatment
or do not follow the practitioner's instructions as to your provision
of care.
9. Provide insurance information for processing bills and assure
that financial obligations are fulfilled as promptly as possible.
10. Treat other patients and staff with consideration and
respect.
11. Be respectful of other patients' right to privacy. Respect a
roommate's and other patients' rights to privacy and quiet, including
the control of noise from use of radio, TV, and number
of visitors.
12. Be respectful of the property of other persons and of
the hospital.
13. You are responsible for following hospital rules and
regulations affecting patient care and conduct.
Thank you for your cooperation, and we trust that your stay with Ojai Valley
Community Hospital will be as pleasant as possible.
|
