Patient Rights & Responsibilities

We, the physicians, nurses and staff of AHMC Anaheim Regional Medical Center, are committed to delivering the best care possible to our patients. We treat each patient as an individual, showing the same respect we would to a member of our own family. Our goal is to facilitate your care through clear communication with you, your family, and the entire health care team--recognizing that you and your family are the ultimate decision makers. Our philosophy is that you have the right to personal consideration, information about your care, and full participation in it. Specifically, you should expect:

1. Considerate and respectful care and to be made comfortable, as well as respect for your personal values and beliefs.

2. To have a family member or other representative of your choosing and your personal physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.

3. To know the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care and the names and professional relationships of other physicians and clinicians who will see you.

4. To receive information about your health status, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and outcomes of care (including unanticipated outcomes) in terms you can understand.

You have the right 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 foregoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

5. To make decisions regarding medical care and receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as you may need in order to have 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. To 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. To 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 use of any or all modalities to relieve the pain, including opiate medication.
If you suffer from severe chronic intractable pain, the doctor may refuse to prescribe opiate medication, but 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. To formulate advance directives.

This includes designating a decision maker if you become incapable of understanding a proposed treatment or unable to communicate your wishes regarding care.
Hospital staff and practitioners who provide care in the hospital shall comply with these directives.
All patient rights apply to the person who has legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf.

11. To 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. To receive care in a safe setting, free from verbal or physical abuse or harassment.

You have the right to access protective services, including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.

14. To 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 be notified in advance regarding the time and location of appointments, as well as the identity of the persons providing the care.

16. To be informed by the physician (or a delegate of the physician) of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital.

Upon your request, a friend or family member may also be provided with this information.

17. To know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.

18. To 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 hospital reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of a patient, staff member, or other visitor, or if the visitor would significantly disrupt the operations of this facility.
You have told the hospital 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. To 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. To examine and receive an explanation of the hospital's bill regardless of the source of payment.

21. To exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, or the source of payment for care.

22. To file a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so verbally or in writing to:

Patient Experience Coordinaor
AHMC Anaheim Regional Medical Center
1111 W. La Palma Avenue Anaheim, CA 92801
Phone: (714) 999-5167

23. To 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 Services may be contacted at:

California Department of Public Health
681 S. Parker Street, Suite 200
Orange, CA 92868
Phone: (714) 567-2906

Concerns about patient safety and quality of care may also be reported to The Joint Commission:

At www.jointcommission.org, using the "Report a Patient Safety Event" link in the "Action Center" on the home page of the website

By fax to 630-792-5636 or

By mail to Office of Quality and Patient Safety, The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois 60181