Your Rights and Responsibilies as a Patient in an Hospital

Patients/relatives-health workers conflicts are very common and these may range from harmless verbal assaults to physical assaults with the use of dangerous weapons, it can sometimes get really messy.

However, one common cause of these conflicts is the failure of the parties involved to understand what their rights and duties are to one another.

If you know your rights, you will be able to assess the quality of services you are getting more objectively and if you know your responsibilities, you will be able to help the health workers attending to you give you the best quality service possible within the capacity of their expertise and with the available resources.

This post highlights the rights and responsibilities of patients to their health management team.

Rights of a Patient

• Right to be treated with dignity and respect.

• Right to information on diagnosis, treatment and alternatives.

• Right to obtain the relevant information about the professionals involved in the patient care.

• Right to expect that all the communications and records pertaining to their case be treated as confidential.

• Right to expect prompt treatment within available resources.

• Right to refuse to participate in human experimentation and research project affecting his care or treatment without prejudice to the said treatment.

• Right to get copies of their medical report on payment of necessary fees.

• Right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply to them as patients and what facilities are available to them.

• Right to get details of their hospital bill.

• Right to seek second opinion about their disease, treatment etc. from another doctor.

• Right to terminate their treatment at any point or get it done on their behalf by their recognized legal guardian/next-of-kin.

Responsibilities of patients

• To treat all hospital staffs with respect and dignity.

• To faithfully undergo the agreed treatment.

• To follow the health worker's instruction diligently.

• To take necessary preventive measures in case of infectious disease as per the doctor's instruction.

• To be aware that health workers will endeavor to always act in their best interests. However, being human beings are not perfect.

• To be aware that ALL procedures, modalities carries varying levels of risks for which health workers are not liable.

• To make payment for the treatment, wherever applicable, to the hospital promptly.

• To respect the competence of the health workers to make professional decisions on patient care.

• To be punctual to attend the clinics for treatment at the given time.

• To preserve all records of illnesses in his possession.

• To keep the doctor informed if the patient want to change doctor/hospital.

However, staying healthy is an healthy venture! Only those who need medical attention need know what rights they have and what their responsibilities are to the team managing their case. Staying healthy thus saves you that headache.