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Patients Bill of Rights

As a patient at Norwalk Community Hospital, you have the right to:

  1. Considerate and respectful care, and to be made comfortable.
  2. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to Foothill Regional Medical Center.
  3. Know the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care, as well as the names and professional relationships of other physicians, non-physicians and other organizations who will see you. Further, you have the right to know of any reasons for any proposed change in professional staff responsible for your care and the right to decline services by students.
  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 during your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services, and foregoing 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 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 medical 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. You do not have the right to demand inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment or services. You do have the right to leave the hospital against the advice of physicians, to the extent permitted by law.
  7. Be advised if the hospital or your personal physician proposes to engage in or perform experimentation/research affecting your care or treatment. You do 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 the 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 regarding decisions at the end of life in accordance with federal and state law. 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 on your behalf—without coercion, discrimination or retaliation. The patient’s family has the right of informed consent of organ and tissue donations.
  11. Have personal privacy respected. Privacy curtains are used in semi-private rooms.
  12. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care and stay at Norwalk Community Hospital. You have the right to access information contained in your medical record within a reasonable amount of time.
  13. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation, retaliation, discrimination, coercion or harassment. You have the right to access protective and advocacy services including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse. You also have the right to be informed, when appropriate, of patient rights in advance of furnishing or discontinuing patient care whenever possible as allowed under state law.
  14. Be free from chemical, physical restraints and/or 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 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 with this information.
  17. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
  18. Designate and exclude visitors of your choosing, if you have decision-making capacity. However, Norwalk Community Hospital has the right to establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and the number of visitors.
  19. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for the purposes of determining who may visit. 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 within a reasonable period of time.
  21. Exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, handicap, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, marital status, or payment source.
  22. Know the reasons for your transfer either within or outside the facility.
  23. Be informed of the source of facility reimbursement of your services, and of any limitations that may be placed on your care.
  24. You have the right to file a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing to LACH-Norwalk, 13222 Bloomfield Ave., Norwalk, CA 90650, or call (562) 863-4763. Concerns regarding quality of care or premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Quality Improvement Organization (OIO), Livanta, LLC.
  25. You have the right to file a complaint with Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP), 142 E. Ontario Street, Chicago, IL 60611, info@hfap.org.
  26. You have the right to file a complaint with the California Department of Public Health regardless of whether you use the hospital’s grievance process. The California Department of Public Health’s phone number and address is:

California Department of Public Health
Licensing and Certification Program
Orange County District Office
681 S. Parker Street, Suite 200
Orange, CA 92868
(800) 228-5234

You can also file a complaint with The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. You can contact The Joint Commission at (800) 994-6610, fax to (630) 792-5636 or email.