Woods Memorial Hospital is committed to rendering care without regard to the patient’s race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, or source of payment, provided the hospital is equipped and approved to provide the treatment. You as the patient are the focus of our efforts. Consequently, you have certain rights and responsibilities during your stay with us. Woods Memorial Hospital’s Board of Trustees, Medical Staff, Administration, and Staff endorse the rights of each patient.
Patient’s Bill of Rights
The patient has the right to reasonable access to care.
The patient has the right to care that is considerate and respectful of his or her personal values and beliefs.
The patient has the right to receive care that includes consideration of the psychosocial, spiritual, and cultural variables that influence the perceptions of illness.
The patient, at the time of admission, has the right to be informed about patient’s rights, realize that the patient complaints can be addressed to the Nurse, Nursing Supervisor, and/or Nursing Administrator.
The patient has the right to participate in ethical questions that arise in the course of care, including conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services, foregoing or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment, and participation in investigational studies, research/education programs, or clinical trials.
The patient has the right, within limits of the law, to security, personal privacy, and confidentiality of information.
The patient has the right to access of protective services.
The patient has the right to expect that within its capacity, a hospital must make reasonable response to the request of a patient for services. The hospital must provide evaluation, service, and/or referral as indicated by the urgency of the case. When medically permissible, a patient may be transferred to another facility only after he/she has received complete information and explanation concerning the needs for and alternatives to such a transfer. The institution to which the patient is to be transferred must first have accepted the patient for transfer.
As a patient at this hospital, you can expect information about pain and pain relief measures, a concerned staff committed to pain prevention and management, health professionals who respond quickly to reports of pain, your reports of pain will be believed, state of the art pain management and dedicated pain relief specialists.
The patient and/or the patient’s legally designated representative has access to the information contained in the patient’s medical record within the limits of the law.
The patient has the right to receive from his/her physician information necessary to give informed consent prior to the start of any procedure and/or treatment. Except in emergencies, such information for informed consent should include, but not necessarily be limited to the specific procedure and/or treatment, the medically significant risks involved, the probable duration of incapacitation, where medically significant alternatives for care or treatment exist, or when the patient requests information. The patient also has the right to know the name and professional status of the person responsible for the procedures and/or treatments.
The terminal patient has the right to receive care that optimizes this comfort and dignity by treating primary and secondary symptoms that respond to treatment as desired by the patient or surrogate decision maker, by effective pain management and acknowledging the psychosocial and spiritual concerns of the patient and the family regarding dying and the expression of grief by the patient and family. All patients have the right to effective pain management.
The patient has the right to collaborate with his/her physician in making decisions involving his/her healthcare, including: A) The right to accept medical care or to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and to be informed of the medical consequences of such refusal; B) the right to formulate advanced directives and appoint a surrogate to make healthcare decisions on his/her behalf to the extent of the law; C) the right to receive care is not conditional upon the existence of an advance directive; and D) the right to receive information that is necessary to enable him/her to make treatment decision that reflect his/her wishes.
The patient has the right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply to his/her conduct as a patient.
The above mentioned rights extend to minor patients and their parents or guardians.
A minor will be treated as a growing child, or adolescent, with special needs and interests.
When a patient is under 12 years of age, one parent (or other adult) may stay with the patient 24 hours a day. Meals and a cot with linen will be provided for such an adult.
The Patient agrees to the following:
Make every reasonable effort to be prompt for scheduled appointments.
Follow the instructions as best you can that are provided by your physician and persons working under his/her direction, and question any instruction(s) you do not understand.
Provide adequate information about your health, medical history, and past hospitalization.
As a patient at this hospital, we expect that you will ask your doctor or nurse what to expect regarding pain and pain management, discuss pain relief options with your doctors and nurses, work with your doctor and nurses to develop a pain management plan, ask for pain relief when pain first begins, help your doctor and nurses assess your pain, tell your doctor or nurses if your pain is not relieved, and tell your doctor or nurses about any worries you have about taking pain medication.
Be considerate of other patients and follow guidelines concerning smoking, visitors, noise and conduct.
Provide information about your ability to pay for services and work with the hospital toward ensuring all charges are paid in order that other patients will not have to subsidize the cost of your care.
Notify your physician or nurses if you do not understand the diagnosis and/or treatment.
Accept responsibility for your actions if treatment is refused or you do not follow the physician’s instructions.
Leave ALL linen (i.e. blankets, pillowcases, gowns, towels, etc.) in the room upon discharge.
Follow the hospital rules and regulations.
Inform hospital at admission of Advance Directive.
