YOUR RIGHTS AS A PATIENT

You have the right to:

1. impartial access to treatment or accommodations that are available or medically indicated;
2. considerate, respectful care at all times.  This includes, but is not limited to, consideration of your psychological, spirtual, and cultural needs;
3. within the law, to personal and informational privacy.  You hat the right to access the information contained in your medical record within a reasonable time frame;
4. as a minor, have the same rights afforded any other patient.  The parents or legal guardians have the right to be informed and to comment on the treatment;
5. receive care in a safe setting and expect reasonable safety insofar as the hospital practices and environment are concerned.  You have the right to be free from all forms of abuse or harassment;
6. know the identity and professional status of individuals providing services to you and to know which physician or other practitioner is primarily responsible for your care;
7. obtain from the practitioner responsible for coordinating your care complete and current information concerning your diagnosis (to the degree known), treatment and any known prognosis.  When it is not medically advisable to give such information to you as the patient, the information should be available to your legally authorized representative;
8. register complaints or grievances and have them properly investigated and be provided with timely follow up.  You are entitled to information about hospitals mechanisms for inititiation, review and resolution of patient complaints.  The Texas Department of Health patient Complaint Hot Line will be made available to you;
9. make informed decisions regarding experimentation or other research education projects that may affect your care, and grant or refuse permission based on appropriate information;
10. access to people outside the hospital by means of visitors and by verbal or written communication;
11. reasonable informed particiapation in decisions involving your health care and to participate in the development and implementation of your plan of care;
12. upon request and expense, to consult a specialist;
13. refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law;
14. emergency screening examination, stabilizing treatment or appropriate transfer regardless of ability to pay.  A transfer may not occur unless you have been given a complete explanation of the need for the transfer and of the alternatives to such transfer and unless the transfer is acceptable to the other facility;
15. to examine and receive an explanation of your bill, regardless of the source of payment.  You have the right to request and receive and itemized statement and detailed explanation of your total bill for services rendered in the hospital;
16. be informed of the hospital rules and regulations applicable to your conduct as a patient;
17. to participate in ethical issues that arise in your care as a patient;
18. the extent permitted by law, to have your guardian, next of kin, or legal representative exercise these rights, if you are unable to do so;
19. formulative Advance Directives and to have staff and practitioners who provide care in the hospital comply with these directives as promulgated in the Advance Directive Act and the Patient Self Determination Act;
20. be free from restraints and seclusion of any form that are not medically necessary or used as a measure of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retalitiona by staff;
21. have a family member or representative of your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Laredo Medical Center recognizes the responsibility of each patient:

1. To provide accurate and complete information about present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalization, medications, and other matters relating to the patients health;
2. To report changes in his/her condition to the physician and the nursing staff;
3. To ask questions until he/she clearly comprehends the contemplated course of action and what is expected of him/her;
4. To follow the plan of care recommended by the physician and hospital staff;
5. To be responsible for his/her actions if he/she refuses treatment or does not follow the doctor's orders;
6. To follow hospital rules and regulations affecting his/her care and conduct;
7. To be considerate of other patients and hospital personnel and assist in the control of noise, smoking, and the number of visitors; and
8. to assure that his/her financial obligations for health care received are fulfilled as promplty as possible.