Patient Rights

The rights of patient(s) in a General Acute Care Hospital include, but are not limited to: The right to:

1. Exercise these rights without regard to sex or cultural, economic, educational, or religious background or the source of payment for his/her care.
2. Considerate and respectful care.
3. Knowledge of the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for the coordinating his care and the names and professional relationships of other physicians who will see him.
4. Receive information from his physician about his illness, his course of treatment and his prospects for recovery in terms that he can understand.
5. Receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as he may need in order to give informed consent or to refuse this course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information shall include a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant risks involved in this treatment, alternate courses of treatment or non-treatment and the risks involved in each and to know the name of the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment. Section 70707, Title 22.
6. If you suffer from severe chronic intractable pain, you have the option to request or reject the use of any or all modalities to relieve your pain, including opiate medication. Your doctor may refuse to prescribe you 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.
7. Participate actively in decisions regarding his medical care. To the extent permitted by law, this includes the right to refuse treatment. Section 70707, Title 22.
8. Full consideration of privacy concerning his medical care program. Case discussion, consultation, examination and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly. The patient has the right to be advised as to the reason for the presence of any individual.
9. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to his care and his stay in the hospital. His written permission shall be obtained before his medical records can be made available to anyone no directly concerned with his care.
10. Reasonable responses to any reasonable requests he may make for service. *
11. Leave the hospital even against the advice of his physicians.
12. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointment as well as the physician providing the care.
13. Be advised if the hospital/personal physician proposed to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting his care or treatment. The patient has the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.
14. Be informed by his physician or a delegate of his physician of his continuing health care requirements following his discharge from the hospital.
15. Examine and receive an explanation of his bill regardless of source of payment.
16. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to his conduct as a patient.
17. Have all patient’s rights apply to the person who may have legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on behalf of the patient.
18. Designate visitors of his/her choosing. If the patient has decision-making capacity, whether or not the visitor is related by blood or marriage, unless:
    a) No visitors are allowed.
    b) The facility reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health, facility, staff or other visitors to the health facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility.
    c) The patient has indicated to the health facility staff that the patient no longer wants this persons visit.

19. Have the patient’s wishes considered for purposes of determining who may visit if the patient lacks decision-making capacity and to have the method of that consideration disclosed in the hospital policy on vacation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include any persons living in the household.
20. This section may not be construed to prohibit a health facility from otherwise establishing reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors.
21. You have the right to file a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with the hospital which provided your medical service, you may do so by writing to the Quality Assurance dept at that specific facility below:

Or, you may call the appropriate facility if you have questions. The grievance committee will review each grievance and provide you with a written response within five(5) days after a determination has been made. 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 Per Review Organization (PRO).

22.  You also have the right to 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 address is:

State of CA, DHS,
1367 East Larson Ave, #B-1
Chico, CA 95973.
The telephone number for DHS is (800)554-0350

Section 70707, Title 22
California Administrative Code
*This does not apply to persons detained or committed to a health facility pursuant to Articles 1, 1.5,4 of Chapter 2, Part 1, Division (Lanterman-Petris-Short Act)