DURING YOUR HOSPTIAL STAY, YOU ARE UNDER THE CARE OF THE FOLLOWING
PHYSICIAN(S):
Federal Rights: Patients have rights afforded them under federal
laws in the areas of notification of rights; the exercise of
his/her rights in regard to his/her care; privacy and safety;
confidentiality of his/her records; freedom from restraints
used in the provision of acute medical and surgical care unless
clinically necessary; and freedom from seclusion and restraints
used in behavior management unless clinically necessary. Patients
who believe they have been aggrieved under their federal rights
should refer to Provision 17 in this document. Those wanting
a full copy of the federal law may obtain one by contacting
the hospital business office.
Legislative Intent: It is the intent of the Legislature and
the purpose of this statement to promote the interests and well
being of the patients of health care facilities. No health care
facility may require a patient to waive these rights as a condition
of admission to the facility. Any guardian or conservator of
a patient or, in the absence of a guardian or conservator, an
interested person, may seek enforcement of these rights on behalf
of a patient. An interested person may also seek enforcement
of these rights on behalf of a patient who has a guardian or
conservator through administrative agencies or in probate court
or county court having jurisdiction over guardianships and conservatorships.
Pending the outcome of an enforcement proceeding the health
care facility may, in good faith, comply with the instructions
of a guardian or conservator. It is the intent of this section
that every patient’s civil and religious liberties, including
the right to independent personal decisions and knowledge of
available choices, shall not be infringed and that the facility
shall encourage and assist in the fullest possible exercise
of these rights.
Definitions: For the purposes of this statement, “patient”
means a person who is admitted to an acute care inpatient facility
for a continuous period longer than 24 hours, for the purpose
of diagnosis or treatment bearing on the physical or mental
health of that person.
Public Policy Declaration: It is declared to be the public
policy of this state that the interests of each patient be protected
by a declaration of a patient’s bill of rights which shall
include but not be limited to the rights specified in this statement.
1. INFORMATION ABOUT RIGHTS: Patients shall, at admission,
be told that there are legal rights for their protection during
their stay at the facility or throughout their course of treatment
and that these are described in an accompanying written statement
of the applicable rights and responsibilities set forth in this
section. Reasonable accommodations shall be made for those with
communication impairments and those who speak a language other
than English. Current facility policies, inspection findings
of state and local health authorities, and further explanation
of the written statement of rights shall be available to patients,
their guardians or their chosen representatives upon reasonable
request to the administrator or other designated staff person,
consistent with the Data Practices Act (Chapter 13), MN Statute
626.557 (Vulnerable Adults Act) and MN Statute 626.556 (Child
Maltreatment Act).
2. COURTEOUS TREATMENT: Patients shall have the right to be
treated with courtesy and respect for their individuality by
employees of or persons providing service in a health care facility.
3. APPROPRIATE HEALTH CARE: Patients shall have the right to
appropriate medical and personal care based on individual needs.
4. PHYSICIAN’S IDENTITY: Patients shall have or be given,
in writing, the name, business address, telephone number, and
specialty, if any, of the physician responsible for coordination
of their care. In cases where it is medically inadvisable, as
documented by the attending physician in a patient’s care
record, the information shall be given to the patient’s
guardian or other person designated by the patient as his or
her representative.
5. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER HEALTH SERVICES: Patients who receive
services from an outside provider are entitled, upon request,
to be told the identity of the provider. Information shall include
the name of the outside provider, the address, and a description
of the service which may be rendered. In cases where it is medically
inadvisable, as documented by the attending physician in a patient’s
care record, the information shall be given to the patient’s
guardian or other person designated by the patient as his or
her representative.
This hospital has affiliation with and provides clinical training
opportunities for students from accredited higher institutions
of learning.
6. INFORMATION ABOUT TREATMENT: Patients shall be given, by
their physician, complete and current information, anticipated
and unanticipated, concerning their diagnosis, treatment, alternatives,
risks, and prognosis as required by the physician’s legal
duty to disclose. This information shall be in terms and language
the patient can reasonably be expected to understand. Patients
may be accompanied by a family member or other chosen representative.
This information shall include the likely medical or major psychological
results of the treatment and its alternatives. In cases where
it is medically inadvisable, as documented by the attending
physician in a patient’s medical record, the information
shall be given to the patient’s guardian or other person
designated by the patient as his or her representative. Individuals
have the right to refuse this information. Every patient suffering
from any form of breast cancer shall be fully informed, prior
to or at the time of admission and duration of their stay, of
all alternative effective methods of treatment of which the
treating physician is knowledgeable, including surgical, radiological,
or chemotherapeutic treatments, or combinations of treatments,
and the risks associated with each of those methods.
7. PARTICIPATION IN PLANNING TREATMENT; NOTIFICATION OF FAMILY
MEMBERS:
a. Patients shall have the right to participate in the planning
of their health care. This right includes the opportunity to
discuss treatment and alternatives with individual caregivers,
the opportunity to request and participate in formal care conferences,
and the right to include a family member or other chosen representative.
In the event that the patient cannot be present, a family member
or other representative chosen by the patient may be included
in such conferences.
b. If a patient who enters a facility is unconscious or comatose
or is unable to communicate, the facility shall make reasonable
efforts as required under paragraph (c) to notify either a family
member or a person designated in writing by the patient as the
person to contact in an emergency that the patient has been
admitted to the facility. The facility shall allow the family
member to participate in treatment planning, unless the facility
knows or has reason to believe the patient has an effective
advance directive to the contrary or knows the patient has specified
in writing that they do not want a family member included in
treatment planning. After notifying a family member, but prior
to allowing a family member to participate in treatment planning,
the facility must make reasonable efforts, consistent with reasonable
medical practice, to determine if the patient has executed an
advance directive relative to the patient’s health care
decisions. For purposes of this paragraph, “reasonable
efforts” include:
? Examining the personal effects of the patient;
? Examining the medical records of the patient in the possession
of the facility;
? Inquiring of any emergency contact or family member contacted
whether the patient has executed an advance directive and whether
the patient has a physician to whom the patient normally goes
for care; and
? Inquiring of the physician to whom the patient normally goes
for care, if known, whether the patient has executed an advance
directive. If a facility notifies a family member or designated
emergency contact or allows a family member to participate in
treatment planning in accordance with this paragraph, the facility
is not liable to the patient for damages on the grounds that
the notification of the family member or emergency contact or
the participation of the family member was improper or violated
the patient’s privacy rights.
c. In making reasonable efforts to notify a family member or
designated emergency contact, the facility shall attempt to
identify family members or designated emergency contact by examining
the personal effects of the patient and the medical records
of the patient in the possession of the facility. If the facility
is unable to notify a family member or designated emergency
contact within 24 hours after the admission, the facility shall
notify the county social service agency or local law enforcement
agency that the patient has been admitted and the facility has
been unable to notify a family member or designated emergency
contact. The county social service agency and local law enforcement
agency shall assist the facility in identifying and notifying
a family member or designated emergency contact. A county social
service agency or local law enforcement agency that assists
a facility is not liable to the patient for damages on the grounds
that the notification of the family member or emergency contact
or the participation of the family member was improper or violated
the patient’s privacy rights.
8. CONTINUITY OF CARE: Patients shall have the right to be
cared for with reasonable regularity and continuity of staff
assignment as far as facility policy allows.
9. RIGHT TO REFUSE CARE: Competent patients shall have the
right to refuse treatment based on the information required
in Provision 6. In cases where a patient is incapable of understanding
the circumstances but has not been adjudicated incompetent,
or when legal requirements limit the right to refuse treatment,
the conditions and circumstances shall be fully documented by
the attending physician in the patient’s medical record.
10. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH: Written, informed consent must be
obtained prior to patient’s participation in experimental
research. Patients have the right to refuse participation. Both
consent and refusal shall be documented in the individual care
record.
11. FREEDOM FROM MALTREATMENT: Patients shall be free from
maltreatment as defined in MN Statute 626.557 (Vulnerable Adults
Protection Act) and MN Statute 626.556 (Child Maltreatment Act).
“Maltreatment” means conduct described in MN Statutes
626.5572, Subd. 15 and 626.556, Subd. 2or the intentional and
non therapeutic infliction of physical pain or injury, or any
persistent course of conduct intended to produce mental or emotional
distress. Every patient shall also be free from non therapeutic
chemical and physical restraints, except in fully documented
emergencies, or as authorized in writing after examination by
a patient’s physician for a specified and limited period
of time, and only when necessary to protect the patient from
self-injury or injury to others.
12. TREATMENT PRIVACY: Patients shall have the right to respectfulness
and privacy as it relates to their medical and personal care
program. Case discussion, consultation, examination, and treatment
are confidential and shall be conducted discreetly. Privacy
shall be respected during toileting, bathing, and other activities
of personal hygiene, except as needed for patient safety or
assistance.
13. CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS: Patients shall be assured confidential
treatment of their personal and medical records, and may approve
or refuse their release to any individual outside the facility.
Copies of records and written information from the records shall
be made available in accordance with this subdivision and section
144.335. This right does not apply to complaint investigations
and inspections by the Department of Health, where required
by third party payment contracts, or where otherwise provided
by law.
14. DISCLOSURE OF SERVICES AVAILABLE: Patients shall be informed
prior to or at the time of admission and during their stay,
of services which are included in the facility’s basic
per diem or daily room rate and that other services are available
at additional charges. Facilities shall make every effort to
assist patients in obtaining information regarding whether the
Medicare or Medical Assistance program will pay for any or all
of the aforementioned services.
15. RESPONSIVE SERVICE: Patients shall have the right to prompt
and reasonable response to their questions and requests.
16. PERSONAL PRIVACY: Patients shall have the right to every
consideration of their privacy, individuality, and cultural
identity as related to their social, religious, and psychological
well-being.
17. GRIEVANCES: Patients shall be encouraged and assisted,
throughout their stay in a facility or their course of treatment,
to understand and exercise their rights as patients and citizens.
Patients may voice grievances and recommend changes in policies
and services to facility staff and others of their choice, free
from restraint, interference, coercion, discrimination or reprisal,
including threat of discharge. Notice of the grievance procedure
of the facility or program, as well as addresses and telephone
numbers for the Office of health Facility Complaints and the
area nursing home ombudsman, pursuant to the Older Americans
Act, section 307(a)(12) shall be posted in a conspicuous place.
Every acute care in-patient facility shall have a written internal
grievance procedure that, at a minimum sets forth the process
to be followed; specified time limits, including time limits
for facility response; provides for the patient to have the
assistance of an advocate; requires a written response to written
grievances; and provides for a timely decision by an impartial
decision-maker if the grievance in not otherwise resolved. Compliance
by hospitals and outpatient surgery centers with Section 144.691
and compliance by health maintenance organizations with Section
62D.11 is deemed to be in compliance with the requirement for
a written internal grievance procedure.
18. COMMUNICATION PRIVACY: Patients may associate and communicate
privately with persons of their choice and enter and, except
as provided by the Minnesota Commitment Act, leave the facility
as they choose. Patients shall have access, at their expense,
to writing instruments, stationery and postage. Personal mail
shall be sent without interference and received unopened unless
medically or programmatically contraindicated and documented
by the physician in the medical record. There shall be access
to a telephone where patients can make and receive calls as
well as speak privately. Facilities which are unable to provide
a private area shall make reasonable arrangements to accommodate
the privacy of patients’ calls. This right is limited
where medically inadvisable, as documented by the attending
physician in a patient’s care record. Where programmatically
limited by a facility abuse prevention plan pursuant to the
Vulnerable Adults Protection Act, Section 626.557, Subd. 14,
para. (b), this right shall also be limited accordingly.
19. PERSONAL PROPERTY: Patients may retain and use their personal
clothing and possessions as space permits, unless to do so would
infringe upon rights of other patients, and unless medically
or programmatically contraindicated for documented medical,
safety, or programmatic reasons. The facility may, but is not
required to, provide compensation for or replacement of lost
or stolen items.
20. SERVICES FOR THE FACILITY: Patients shall not perform labor
or services for the facility unless those activities are included
for therapeutic purposes and appropriately goal-related in their
individual medical record.
21. PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY SERVICES: Patients shall have the
right of reasonable access at reasonable times to any available
rights protection services and advocacy services so that the
patient may receive assistance in understanding, exercising,
and protecting the rights described in this section and in other
law. This right shall include the opportunity for private communication
between the patient and a representative of the rights protection
service or advocacy service.
22. RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION DISCLOSURE AND RIGHT TO ASSOCIATE:
Upon admission to a facility, where federal law prohibits unauthorized
disclosure of patient identifying information to callers and
visitors, the patient, or the legal guardian or conservator
of the patient, shall be given the opportunity to authorize
disclosure of the patient’s presence in the facility to
callers and visitors who may seek to communicate with the patient.
To the extent possible, the legal guardian or conservator of
the patient shall consider the opinion of the patient regarding
the disclosure of the patient’s presence in the facility.
23. PAIN MANAGEMENT: Every patient has the right to have pain
needs assessed, acknowledged, addressed, and/or treated during
their hospital stay.
