Patient Rights and Responsibilities

At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, we are committed to providing high quality health care within a safe, respectful, and supportive environment. The care we provide is also based on the belief that our patients and their families are partners in treatment decisions and plans. These patient rights provide information about our commitment to you and your child and your responsibilities as a member of the health care team.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford does not discriminate against any person or entity on the basis of ancestry, age, color, disability (mental and physical, including HIV and AIDS), genetic information, gender, gender identity/expression, marital and/or registered domestic partner status, medical condition (genetic characteristics, cancer, or a record or history of cancer), military or veteran status, national origin (includes language use restrictions), race, religion (includes religious dress and grooming practices), sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and/or related medical conditions) and sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, immigration status or the source of payment for care.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford prohibits retaliation against any person because he or she opposed or complained about discrimination in good faith, assisted in a good faith investigation of a discrimination complaint, or participated in a discrimination charge or other proceeding under federal, state, or local antidiscrimination law.

You and Your Child Have a Right to:

Respect and Personal Dignity

Care that is considerate and respectful of your and your child’s personal values, beliefs, and customs including sensitivity to your religious beliefs and spiritual support if you request it.

Care that respects a child’s need to rest, to play, to learn, and to have his or her daily routine stay as normal as possible.

Freedom to express feelings or fears with appropriate reactions from staff.

Respect for personal privacy

Privacy to the extent possible in all areas of the medical care program, case discussion, consultation, examination, and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly.

Have visitors leave prior to an examination and when treatment issues are being discussed. Privacy curtains will be used in semi-private rooms.

Confidential treatment of all communications and records about your or your child’s care and stay in the hospital. Access to your own or your child’s records will be given only to you, to people to whom you give written permission, or those who are allowed by law.

You will receive a separate “Notice of Privacy Practices” that explains patients’ privacy rights in detail and how Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford may use and disclose protected health information.

Safety

Receive care in a safe and secure setting.

Request access to a protective services agency to determine the need for these services for yourself or your child, including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.

Be free from all forms of verbal or physical abuse and harassment.

Be free from restraints and/or seclusion in any form that is not medically necessary or is used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff.

Information You Can Understand

Ask questions about anything that is not clear. Ask questions about any papers you are asked to sign.

Know which hospital rules and policies apply to the patient’s conduct while a patient.

To be given the reason for the presence of any individual.

Receive information about the illness, the course of treatment, and prospects for recovery in terms and language that you can understand.

Know the name of the physician who has primary responsibility for coordinating care and names and professional relationships of other physicians and non-physicians who see the patient.

Be informed about and participate in decisions regarding your care or your child’s care.

Receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as needed in order to give informed consent or to refuse the course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information includes a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant risks involved in this treatment, alternate 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.

Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of people providing the care

Be informed about the outcomes of care, including unanticipated outcomes.

Be informed of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital and places to get this care. You can request a friend or family member receive this information.

Examine and receive an explanation of the bill regardless of the source of payment.

Make Informed Decisions

Participate in the development and implementation of your or your child’s plan of care and discharge plan.

Make informed decisions regarding your or your child’s care. This includes being informed of health status, how to manage pain, being in­volv­ed in care planning and treatment, and being able to request, refuse, or choose among available treatments. Your request for treatment will be evaluated by the care team who will discuss the treatment plan with you. However, you do not have the right to demand inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment.

Change your mind about any procedure for which you have already given consent.

Be advised if the hospital or your personal physician proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting care or treatment. You and your child have the right to a description of the expected benefits, potential discomforts and risks, and to refuse to participate in the research project knowing we will continue to give good care.

Participate in ethical questions that arise in the course of your care or your child’s care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding of resuscitative services, forgoing or withdrawal of life sustaining treatment, and participation in investigational studies or clinical trials.

To request a consultation with the Ethics Committee when you are facing difficult choices regarding your or your child’s care. Please call the Hospital Operator at (650) 497-8000 to page the on call Ethics Officer.

Participate actively in decisions regarding medical care. To the extent permitted by law, this includes the right to refuse treatment, seek a second opinion from another doctor, leave the hospital even against the advice of a physician, change hospitals.

Formulate an Advance Directive (for patients 18 years old or older) to designate a decision maker in case the patient is incapable of understanding a proposed treatment or procedure or is unable to communicate his or her wishes regarding care. Have hospital staff and practitioners provide and comply with this directive to the extent permitted by law.

Have all patients’ rights apply to the person who may have legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on behalf of the patient.

Designate a support person and visitors of your choosing, whether or not the visitor is related by blood, marriage or registered domestic partner status and/or indicate you no longer want a person to visit, as stated in the hospital policy on visitation. You will be informed in language you can understand if visitation or communication is being re­strict­ed for health or safety reasons.

Have the patient’s wishes considered for purposes of determining who may visit if the patient lacks decision-making capacity and to receive that kind of visitation. At a minimum, the hospital will consider any person living in the household and any support person pursuant to federal law.

Quality Health Care

Have a family member or representative of choice, and the patient’s own physician notified promptly of admission to the hospital.

Care provided by doctors, nurses, and others who know how to care for the special needs of perinatal patients, children, youth, or adults.

Know that because we are a teaching hospital affiliated with Stanford University Medical School, you or your child may be seen by doctors, nurses, and others in training. We believe that the presence of such staff, who act under the supervision of senior professionals, adds to the overall quality of care.

Reasonable access to care.

Considerate and respectful care and to be made comfortable.

Appropriate assessment and management of pain.

Quick response to reports of pain.

Request or reject the use of any or all modalities to re­lieve pain. This includes opiate medication if you or your child suffers 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 intractable pain with methods that include the use of opiates.

Reasonable responses to any reasonable request made for service.

Access information contained in your or your child’s clinical records within a reasonable period of time.

You and Your Child Have a Responsibility to:

Tell us how you want to take part in your care or your child’s care.

Give the health care team accurate and complete information about symptoms, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, and other information relating to your or your child’s health, to the best of your knowledge.

Inform the healthcare team of the existence of any Advance Directive you may have created.

Report unexpected changes in your own or your child’s condition or level of pain.

Ask questions when you do not understand papers you have been asked to sign, when you do not un­derstand what has been said, or when you do not un­derstand what you or your child are expected to do.

Follow the treatment plan developed with the physicians, nurses, and other members of the health care team. You should tell the health care team any concerns you have about your ability to follow the course of treatment.

Accept the consequences of failing to follow the recommended course of treatment or using other treatments.

Accept the outcome of refusing treatment or failing to follow the health care team’s instructions.

Know and follow the unit or hospital’s rules and regulations concerning patient care and conduct.

Be considerate of other patients and hospital personnel by not making unnecessary noise, using civil language and conduct, not smoking or causing distractions.

Respect the rights, privacy, and property of other people and the hospital.

Keep appointments and call to cancel or change an appointment as soon as possible.

Meet the financial commitment to which you have agreed.

Complaint/Grievance Process:

If you have concerns about your care, you may speak to your nurse, department manager, doctor, administrative nursing supervisor or:

Speak to a Patient Navigator about understanding or resolving issues about your rights or responsibilities.

File a complaint or grievance with the hospital by contacting Patient Experience. Your grievance will be reviewed and you will receive a written response as soon as possible within 30 days. You will be informed of the person to contact, the action taken, the results of the grievance process and date of completion.

Contact Patient Experience at (650) 498-HUGS (4847) or write to Patient Experience, 725 Welch Rd., 1st floor, MC 5915, Palo Alto, CA 94304.

You may also file a complaint with the following outside organizations whether or not you use the hospital’s complaint process: California Dept. of Public Health (CDPH), Licensing and Certification Program, 100 Paseo de San Antonio, Suite #235, San Jose, CA 95113. Tel: (408) 277-1784; FAX (408) 277-1032

The Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181. 1(800) 994-6610; complaint@jointcommission.org; http://www.jointcommission.org

Medical doctors are regulated by the Medical Board of California and complaints against doctors can be directed to: Medical Board of California, Central Complaint Unit, 2005 Evergreen St, Suite 1200, Sacramento, CA 95815, Tel (800) 633-2322; www.mbc.ca.gov

Medicare patients may also contact the Medicare Hotline at (800) 633 4227, if they have a complaint regarding quality of care, a coverage decision or appeal a premature discharge.

Please be assured that future access to care and the quality of future care will not be affected by contacting Patient Experience or filing a complaint.