Patient Bill of Rights
First Article: Receiving proper health services is any patient’s right. All care should be provided according to the following conditions:
- Accordant with human dignity and respectful of cultural and religious values and beliefs
- Based on modern knowledge, based on evidence, in a timely manner and in emergency cases, notwithstanding costs and maintaining quality in a safe and sound environment
- Full respect despite any racial, cultural, religious and type of illness factors
- Fair distribution of health resources and patient’s treatment priorities appropriate with language, age and gender
- Taking into consideration the rights of vulnerable groups including children, pregnant women, elderlies, psychiatric patients, mentally and physically disabled and poorly supervised and neglected patients
- Based on coordination care elements including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation
- Receiving diagnostic and treatment and care services from experienced treatment staff with professional competence
- Observing hand hygiene by treatment staff before and after care, recommended by the World Health Organization
Second Article: The information should be presented to the patient in a satisfactory and sufficient manner. This information includes the following matters:
- Patient Bill of Rights
- Accessibility to attending physician and other members of the treatment team
- Receiving the necessary trainings in order to continue treatment and being informed about care plans during hospitalization time and after being discharged
- Hospital rules and regulations (predictable costs such as treatment and non-treatment services, tariffs and insurances)
- Being informed of diagnostic and treatment methods, strong and weak points of each method and possible consequences
- Knowing all members of the treatment team (name, responsibility and professional rank)
Third Article: The patient’s right to freely and consciously make a decision and choose after receiving information, should be respected. The patient’s range of decision making and choice includes the following matters:
- Choosing an attending physician and a center that offers services
- Getting a second opinion as a consult
- Participating or not-participating in researches
- Accepting or rejecting diagnostic methods and recommended treatments after being informed about the possible consequences
Fourth Article: Health services should be offered with protecting patient’s privacy and observing the confidentiality principle.
- Observing the confidentiality principle in protecting any information related to the patient by the treatment staff (unless in exceptional cases according to national regulations)
- Protecting patient’s privacy throughout all stages of diagnosis, treatment and care
- Permitted personnel for accessing patient information include the patient, treatment staff, parent or legal guardian and or individuals permitted by law
- The accompaniment of one of the parents with a child during all diagnostic and treatment stages except in special cases upon the discretion of the attending physician and ward supervisor
Fifth Article: Access to an efficient system for handling complaints is the patient’s right.
- The patient has the right that in case of infringement of their rights, to make a complaint to the relevant authorities without causing any disruption in the process of their care and treatment services.
- The patient has the right to be informed regarding the handling and result of their complaint.
- Evident damages due to the error of service providers should be compensated accordant with regulations as soon as possible.