Patient Rights & Responsibilities

UNDERSTANDING YOUR RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES

When you are availing services from a hospital, it is important for you to understand both your rights and your responsibilities in this process.

We (DCIMCH) are committed to care our patient, both clinical and personal. It is our policy to ensure that your individuality and dignity is respected and you receive all your services timely. We are empowering you to manage your health in a manner that is aligned with your values and respect your culture, religion and beliefs. We support your rights and encourage you to participate in critical and vital decisions which affect your well-being. We wish to inform you the various rights you have as a patient in our premise.

YOUR RIGHTS AS A PATIENT

1. Right to proper medical care: You have the right to receive the best care medically indicated for your problem, regardless of age, sex, religion, nationality, race, source of payment for your care, etc. We deliver the treatment and care in accordance with international professional standards and quality in healthcare.
2. You have right to seek and receive all information necessary for you to understand your medical condition: You are entitled to know the probable diagnosis, planned course of treatment and prognosis for the future. You have the right to know the name of our doctor and other hospital staffs responsible for care, and the right to talk to them. You have the right to ask your doctor or nurse any question that concerns you about your health. If you speak another language, have a physical or mental disability, or just do not understand something, you will be provided assistance so that you can be informed healthcare decisions. Parents, guardians, family members, or other individuals who you designate can represent you if you are not in position to make your own decision.
3. Right to be treated respectfully: Your individuality will be respected and difference in cultural and educational background taken into account while giving care. Whenever you have any query, you will be listened to and you will receive an appropriate helpful response respectfully.
4. Right for a second opinion: You have the right to ask for a second opinion from another doctor or Medical Board, if you feel that the decision made about your treatment by your primary doctor did not suit your treatment needs. However, we request you to be reasonable and justified in such matters.
5. Right to leave the hospital: You have the right to leave the hospital even if your doctor advises against it. However, if you decide to leave, the hospital will not be responsible for any harm that may cause you, and you will be requested to sign a “Discharge Against Medical Advice” form.
6. Right to be free from any restraint or seclusion: You have the right to be free from any form of restraint or seclusion that is not medically necessary or used as means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by the staff. Restraint or seclusion may only be used to improve your well-being or protect you from harm, and when you or your family members have been informed and given approval by written consent.
7. Right to privacy and medical confidentiality: Your privacy is assured at all stages of your treatment. Your doctor or any other member of the hospital will not disclose any information concerning you which comes to their knowledge during the course of your treatment to another party, provided you have given consent for the same. However, information may be disclosed to specific authorities if your doctor or the hospital is so instructed by law, or if the information is needed for your continued treatment.
8. Right to informed consent: No medical treatment shall be administered unless you or designated members of your family have consented to it. Such consent will be “informed” based on the diagnosis, the nature of the proposed treatment, the risk involved (including pain and discomfort), and the chances and risks of alternative treatment or lack of any treatment at all. Your doctor will furnish the information to you at the earliest stage of the treatment in a manner that maximizes your ability to understand the information and to make a free and independent decision.
9. Right to access medical information: You are entitled to receive information concerning your treatment, including a copy of your medical record from your doctor or from the hospital. In cases where such information may cause serious harm to your health or endanger your life, your doctor may decline to give you such information. The hospital’s Ethics Committee may endorse or change your doctor’s decision.
10. Right to care under emergency: In case, you are in a medical emergency, you will be eligible unconditionally to receive medical treatment. The doctor, to whom you turn up or be referred to, is obliged to examine and treat you to the best of his/her ability. If the doctor is unable to do so, he/she will refer you to a facility that can provide the medical care which suits your requirement. In case of any life or limb saving situation, our doctor(s) will go ahead with the required emergency management, even against your will, as per our hospital policy.
11. Right to be informed about cost of treatment: You have the right to understand and receive information on the payment of hospital bills on a day-to-day basis in accordance with the policies of the hospital.
12. Right to complain: You have the right to complain to the hospital authorities against your health plan, doctor(s), or any other healthcare personnel. It could be complaint about waiting time, operating hours, conduct of healthcare personnel, adequacy of the healthcare facilities, etc.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A PATIENT

Your rights are balanced by your responsibilities as a patient, which can help your caregivers work more efficiently. Please do the following and help yourself, as well as the hospital staffs:

Be honest with your healthcare providers and inform your physician about your present illness, previous hospitalization details, and any other matter relating to your health which would help the physician treat you better. We request you to participate in decision making and ask questions in case of doubts.

The hospital staffs have demanding work, often under stressful circumstances. You can help them by treating them considerately. Violence or racial, sexual or verbal abuse is completely unacceptable.

Please follow all advice given by your caregivers. If you are worried or have any doubt about an advice, discuss it with your caregiver.

Please take all the medicines prescribed to you by your doctor and complete the course of treatment.

Improvement of services will only be successful if we know what you think about them. Help the staffs by filling the “Feedback Forms” if they approach you.

Use emergency services in a real emergency situation only. Do not forget that there are seriously ill people who need to use these services.

Respect the rights of other patients and staffs of the hospital. Please ensure that your visitors are considerate to other patients, and strictly observe the “Visiting Hours” policy of the hospital.

Please observe “No Smoking” and other rules of the hospital.

It is your responsibility to be prompt with payment of your hospital bills, and to provide information essential for processing your bills, wherever necessary.