You have the right to the following:
1. Considerate and respectful care and to be made comfortable. You have the right to respect for your cultural, psychosocial, spiritual and personal values, and beliefs and preferences.
2. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
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 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.
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 physicians, 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 pain, including opiate medication, if you suffer from severe chronic intractable pain. The doctor may refuse to prescribe the 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 patients’ rights apply to the person who has legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf.
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.
12. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care and stay in the hospital. You will receive a separate “Notice of Privacy Practices” that explains your privacy rights in detail and how we may use and disclose your protected health information.
13. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or harassment. 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 healthcare requirements and options following discharge from the hospital. You have the right to be involved in the development and implementation of your discharge plan. Upon your request, a friend or family member may be provided this information also.
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 the visitor is 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, a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors.
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 be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include any persons living in your household.
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. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing or by calling: Northridge Hospital Medical Center Administration 18300 Roscoe Blvd. Northridge, Ca. 91328 (818) 885-5321 The grievance committee will review each grievance and provide you with a written response within 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. Concerns regarding quality of care or premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Utilization and Quality Control Peer Review Organization (PRO).
23. 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 phone number and address is: Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Acute & Ancillary Unit 5555 Ferguson Drive 3rd Floor Commerce, Ca. 90022 (800) 228-1019 or (323) 869-8207
24. Contact The Joint Commission (TJC), an organization that accredits nearly 15,000 healthcare facilities, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center.
During your stay, you may also voice your opinions to any staff member. If you have a complaint or concern, please don’t wait until after you’ve left the hospital.
Rather, tell us during your stay so that our staff can resolve it immediately. In the event you are not satisfied with our staff’s response, please feel free to contact Hospital Administration at ext. 5442 or (818) 885-5442.
Rest assured that all issues are reviewed, evaluated and responded to appropriately. We encourage you and your family to inform us of any issues you may have about our service and care.
Bringing a concern to our attention will not, in any manner, compromise the medical care given to you or a loved one, or future access to services. You are an integral member of the healthcare team and we welcome hearing your thoughts and alleviating your concerns.
For additional information regarding Patients Rights, you may contact:
- Office of Patient's Rights: (800) 254-5166
- Department of Human Services: (800) 495-3232
21. Knowledge of the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for coordinating the care and names and professional relationships of other physicians and non-physicians who will see the patient.
22. Receive information about the illness, the course of treatment and prospects for recovery in terms the patient can understand.
23. Receive, as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as the patient 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, alternative 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.
24. Participate actively in decisions regarding medical care. To the extent permitted by law this includes the right to refuse treatment.
25. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to the care and the stay in the hospital. Written permission shall be obtained before the medical records can be made available to anyone not directly involved with the care.
26. Reasonable responses to any reasonable request made for service.
27. Leave the hospital even against the advice of physicians.
28. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointment as well as the identity of persons providing the care .
29. Be advised if hospital/personal physician proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting care or treatment. The patient has the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.
30. Be informed of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital.
31. Examine and receive an explanation of the bill regardless of source of payment.
32. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to the patient's conduct while a patient.
33. Have all patient's rights apply to the person who will have legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on behalf of the patient.
34. 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:
- 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 visitors to the health facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility
- The patient has indicated to the health facility staff that the patient no longer wants this person to visit
35. 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 visitation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include any persons living in the household.
36. 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 the number of visitors.
