Patient rights and responsibilities

Thank you for choosing Emanate Health for your health care needs. Your health and well-being is important to us.

Patient rights

A patient shall have the right to:

1. Considerate and respectful care, and to be made comfortable. You have the right to respect for your personal values and beliefs, which includes spiritual and cultural preferences.
2. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital. The family may also be involved with decision making with permission of the patient or surrogate decision maker as appropriate.
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 use an interpreter and/or translation services. 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 forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. You have the right to access the Bio-Ethics Committee of the medical staff.
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 your physician, to the extent permitted by law.
7. 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.
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 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 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. Do not resuscitate directive will be honored in outpatient departments only with a physician order and copy of the Advance Directive.
11. 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 and arrangements may be made for private telephone conversations.
12. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care and stay in the hospital. Upon registration you will receive a separate Notice of Privacy Practices that explains privacy rights in detail and how we may use and disclose protected health information.
13. Receive care in a safe and secure setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect; harassment; financial or other exploitation; and freedom from retaliation and humiliation; and that personal belongings that reside on the property remain secure. 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 of 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 health care requirements and options following discharge from the hospital. Upon your request, a friend or family member may be provided with this information also. You have the right to be involved in the development and implementation of your discharge plan.
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 they are 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, the health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors. The health facility must inform you (or your support person, where appropriate) of your visitation rights, including any clinical restrictions or limitations. The health facility is 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.
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 comply with federal laws 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.
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, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, educational background, economic status or the source of payment for care.
22. Make a request for spiritual care services.
23. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with the hospital, it may be done by writing or calling:
    
    Patient Relations Department
    Emanate Health
    P.O. Box 6108
    Covina, CA 91722-5108
    626.858.8519 or 626.858.8521
    
    Each grievance is reviewed and you will be provided a written response within seven days. Within seven days and no more than 30 days, 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. Complaints regarding premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Utilization and Quality Control Peer Review Organization (PRO).
24. File a complaint with the state Department of Public Health and the Joint Commission regardless of whether you use the hospital grievances process. The California Department of Health's phone number and address is:
    
    3400 Aerojet Ave., Suite 323
    El Monte, CA 91731
    800.228.1019
    
    Joint Commission Hotline
    800.994.6610
25. Access personal health information/records, request amendment as permitted under applicable law and obtain information.

Patient responsibilities

Provision of information

A patient for his/her own safety, has the responsibility to provide, to the best of his/her knowledge, accurate and complete information about present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, and other matters relating to his/her health. He/she has the responsibility to report unexpected changes in his/her condition to the responsible practitioner. A patient is responsible for reporting whether he/she clearly comprehends a contemplated course of action and what is expected of him/her.

Compliance with instructions

A patient is responsible for following the treatment plan recommended by the practitioner primarily responsible for his/her care. This may include following the instructions of nurses and allied health personnel as they carry out the coordinated plan of care, implement the responsible practitioner's orders, and enforce the applicable hospital rules and regulations. The patient is responsible for keeping appointments and, when unable to do so for any reason, for notifying the responsible practitioner or the hospital.

Refusal of treatment

The patient is responsible for his/her actions if he/she refuses treatment or does not follow the practitioner's instructions.

Hospital charges

The patient is responsible for assuring that the financial obligations of his/her health care are fulfilled as promptly as possible.

Hospital rules and regulations

The patient is responsible for following hospital rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct.

Respect and consideration

The patient is responsible for being considerate of the rights of other patients and hospital personnel and for assisting in the control of noise, privacy, and the number of visitors. The patient is responsible for being respectful of the property of other persons and of the hospital.

At no time should employees be video or audio recorded by the patient or a representative of the patient. Only health system administrators can provide consent to the patient or representative of the patient who is requesting video or audio recordation.

Emanate Health hospitals/affiliates are nonsmoking facilities.

If you have a complaint about the quality of services provided and/or do not feel your rights have been respected, please ask to speak to the department director or the nursing supervisor on duty. Dial the operator (0) on your bedside telephone or ask the nurse caring for you to contact him/her.

If you have a need for protective services due to abuse (child, elder, domestic), please notify your nurse.

Thank you for choosing Emanate Health for your health care needs. We welcome any comments or suggestions you have concerning the quality of our services.