Photo of a stethoscope lying on a table

Patient Rights and Responsibilities

Respect for your personal dignity and assurance for your basic rights to make decisions, to express those decisions, and to act upon them are major concerns at Wiregrass Medical Center. This hospital accepts the responsibility of making every effort to preserve the rights for you during your treatment and recovery.

If the patient is an infant, child, or adolescent these rights are extended to the parents or guardians. You have the right to expect respectful care at all times and under all circumstances, with respect for your personal dignity.

You have the right, within the law, to personal and informational privacy as follows:

To refuse to talk with or see anyone not officially connected with the hospital, but not directly involved in your care.

To wear appropriate personal clothing and religious or other symbolic items, as long as they do not interfere with diagnostic procedures or treatment.

To be interviewed and examined in surroundings designed to assure reasonable visual and auditory privacy. This includes the right to have a person of your own sex present during certain parts of a physical examination, treatment, or procedure performed by a health professional of the opposite sex, or the right not to remain disrobed any longer than is required for accomplishing the medical purpose for which you were asked to disrobe.

To expect that any discussion or consultation involving your case will be discreetly conducted and that individuals not directly involved in your care will not be present without your permission.

To have your medical record read only by individuals directly involved in your treatment or in the monitoring of its quality. Other individuals can read only your medical record on your authorization or that of your legal authorized representative.

To expect all communications and other records pertaining to your care, including the source of payment for the treatment, to be treated as confidential.

To request a transfer to another room if another patient or a visitor in the room is unreasonably disturbing you.

To be placed in protective privacy when considered necessary for personal safety.

You have the right to expect reasonable safety in so far as the hospital practices and environmental are concerned.

You have the right to know the identity and professional status of individuals providing service to you and to know which physician or other practitioner is primarily responsible for your care. This includes your right to know the existence of any professional relationship among individuals who are treating you, as well as the relationship to any other care or educational institutions involved in your care. Participation by you in clinical programs or in the gathering of data for research purposes should be voluntary.

You have the right to obtain, from your practitioner responsible for the coordination of your care, complete and current information concerning your diagnosis (to the degree known), treatment, and any known prognosis. This information should be communicated in terms you can reasonably be expected to understand. When it is not medically advisable to give such information to you, the information should be made available to a legally authorized individual.

You have the right to access to people outside the hospital by means of visitors and by verbal and written communication.

When you do not speak or understand the predominant language of the community, you should have access to an interpreter. This is particularly true where language barriers are a continuing problem.

You have the right to reasonable informed participation in decisions involving your care to the degree possible, this should be based on a clear, concise explanation of your condition and of all proposed technical procedures, including the possibilities of any risk of mortality or serious side effects, problems related to recuperation, and probability of success. You should not be subjected to any procedure without your voluntary, competent, and understanding consent or the consent of your legally authorized representative. Where medically significant alternatives for care or treatment exist, you should be so informed. You shall be informed if the hospital

proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation or other research/educational projects affecting your care or treatment; you have the right to refuse to participate in any such activity.

You, at your own request and expense, have the right to consult with a specialist.

You have the right to appropriate assessment and management of pain. As a patient, you can expect:

Information about pain and pain relief measures

A concerned staff committed to pain prevention

Health professionals who respond quickly to reports of pain

State-of-the-art pain management

You may refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law. When refusal of treatment by you or your legally authorized representative prevents the provision of appropriate care in accordance with professional standards, the relationship with you may be terminated upon reasonable notice.

You may not be transferred to another facility or organization unless you have received a complete examination of the need for the transfer and of the alternative to such a transfer and unless the transfer is acceptable to the other facility or organization. You have the right to timely notice prior to termination of your eligibility for reimbursement by a third party payer for the cost of your care

You should be informed of the hospital rules and regulations applicable to your conduct as a patient. You are entitled to information about the hospital's mechanism for the initiation, review, and resolution of patient complaints.

Patient Responsibility

It is Wiregrass Medical Center's policy the listed patients below be attended at all times by a family member or someone they designate other than hospital personnel.

Patients 14 years old and under

Inebriated patient

Patient in delirium tremens

Confused or belligerent patient

Patient that is physically/mentally and or emotionally unable to communicate needs to all staff

This is required for the protection of the patient since the hospital cannot be expected to give one-on-one custodial care to patients.