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Patient Support

Patient Support \ Patient's Rights

Patient's Rights and Responsibilities

At West Georgia Health, you have the right to:

Receive services necessary for care no matter:

  • What your race or religion is
  • If you are male or female
  • Where you were born
  • What you can or cannot do
  • What sources you have for payment of services
  • What your sexual orientation is.

Talk honestly with and ask questions of your doctor and other health care workers, in words you understand, about:

  • Your illness and what your doctor has planned for your treatment
  • Why treatments and tests are done and who does them
  • Whether you will recover from your illness
  • Your wish for a meeting or a second opinion from another doctor
  • The need to transfer you to another hospital and the choices you have about the transfer
  • Your wish to change doctors and/or hospitals or other providers
  • Instructions for care after you leave the medical center.

You have the right to:

  • Have someone explain all documents you are asked to sign
  • Have a family member, other representative or your personal physician be notified of your hospital admission
  • Change your mind about any treatment or test for which you have given consent
  • Refuse to sign a consent form you do not fully understand
  • Refuse certain treatments and be told of the medical results of this choice
  • Receive care in a safe setting
  • Be free from restraints or seclusion unless clinically necessary
  • Refuse to take part in health care training programs and research testing
  • An environment that preserves dignity and contributes to a positive self image
  • Be free from mental, physical, sexual and verbal abuse, harassment, neglect and exploitation
  • Pain management
  • Access protective and advocacy services.

You have the additional right to expect:

  • Your privacy to be respected to the limits which your care allows
  • Contact with people from outside the hospital if you desire it
  • To receive information about advance directives
  • Information about your care, including the source of payment, will be kept confidential
  • Information about your care will be given only to you or those people for whom you give written permission, or to those who are permitted by law to receive it
  • To receive a copy of your medical center bills.

You have the responsibility to:

  • Give correct and complete information about your present illness, past illnesses, dates admitted to any hospital, medications you have taken or are now taking and other details about your health
  • Ask your doctor, nurse or other staff member to explain any documents you are asked to sign which you do not understand, or to any answer questions you may have about your care
  • Participate in the implementation of a plan of care created by your doctors, nurses and other staff. You are responsible for your actions if you refuse to follow this plan of care or do not follow instructions.
  • Follow the rules of the medical center and patient care areas
  • Keep your appointments and call to cancel or change an appointment as soon as possible
  • Respect the rights and privacy of others
  • Follow through with payment of medical bills.