Legal Rights of the patient, precautions, avenues for redressal and responsibilities of patients.

1. LEGAL RIGHTS OF THE PATIENT
Presented By:
Bakul Arora
MHA 3rd sem
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2. Origin of Patient’s Rights and
responsibilities
• The code of ethics of medical and nursing councils
define the duties of the doctors and nurses towards
the patients. Thus these duties form the basis of
patient’s rights.
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3. PATIENT’S RIGHTS
• Right to considerate and respectful care.
• Right to information on diagnosis, treatment and
medicines.
• Right to obtain all the relevant information about the
professionals involved in the patient care.
• Right to expect that all the communications and
records pertaining to his/her case be treated as
confidential
• Right to every consideration of his/her privacy
concerning his/her medical care programme.
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4. PATIENT’S RIGHTS
• Right to expect prompt treatment in an emergency
• Right to refuse to participate in human experimentation,
research, project affecting his/her care or treatment.
• Right to get copies of medical records
• Right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply
to him/her as a patient and the facilities obtainable to the
patient.
• Right to get details of the bill.
• Right to seek second opinion about his/her disease,
treatment, etc.
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5. WHAT PRECAUTIONS SHOULD PATIENTS
TAKE TO PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS?
• In case of surgical treatment or invasive investigations and procedures,
patient should ensure that he/she has understood the nature of the
operation.
• Patient should understand the consent form before he/she signs.
• At the time of discharge, patient should take copies of all the relevant
records.
• At the time of discharge from the hospital, make sure that patient receives
the bills for all the payments made.
• In case of any treatment, patient has the right to ask for a second opinion.
• If patient has any doubts about the treatment he/she should request the
doctor to clarify them.
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6. • Make sure that the doctor has given patient all the instructions
for the medicines prescribed. Patient has the right to get all
the relevant information about the drugs prescribed.
• In case of invasive/costly investigations, patient has the right
to know of the alternatives as well as the necessity of the
investigations.
• In case of HIV positive patients, the details can only be
disclosed with the patient’s permission.
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7. AVENUES FOR REDRESSAL OF
PATIENTS COMPLAINTS
• MEDICAL COUNCILS:
Medical Councils are statutory bodies created by an Act of the Parliament/legislature to
monitor/govern the medical profession. The council has only ethical jurisdiction.
The council cannot give compensation to the complainant or punish the doctors. The only
punishment the councils are empowered to give is to cancel the registration either temporarily
or permanently.
The complainant has to file the complaint with the registrar of the Council and file a specific
declaration as per the prescribed format. The council’s executive committee holds the
preliminary hearing to find out the prima facie veracity of the complaint.
At this meeting only the complainant and the doctor against whom the complaint is filed are
allowed to present their sides. Lawyers are not allowed to be present. If the executive
committee finds prima facie truth in the complaint, then the full council hears the case. The
council meets only twice in a year. Therefore the complaints are not resolved speedily. Also
the preliminary hearing is heavily weighed against the complaint who is usually a non
medical person. Therefore councils have been very ineffective in resolving the complaints of
consumers of healthcare.
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8. • CONSUMER COURTS:
• The complaints against the medical profession can be filed in the consumer courts. The
complaint should be written on a simple paper giving all the details and the compensation
demanded. These courts can only give compensation.
• Following are the monetary limits of compensation that can be granted by the consumer
courts
• District Consumer Court
Up to Rs 20 lakh
• State Commission
Rs 20 Lakhs to Rs 1 Crore
• National Commission
Above Rs 1 crore
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9. • CIVIL COURTS:
The redressal of the patient’s complaints through the civil
courts is lengthy, time consuming and many times
counterproductive. There is a tremendous backlog of cases
and the cases take anywhere between 10 to 15 years to
complete.
• CRIMINAL COURTS:
The redressal of the complaints under criminal law is not very
common and recourse to this method should be taken only in
exceptional cases.
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10. PATIENT’S RESPONSIBILITIES
• To faithfully undergo the agreed therapy.
• To follow the doctors instructions diligently.
• To take necessary preventive measures in case of
infectious diseases as per the doctors instructions.
• To be aware that doctors and nurses are also human
beings and are amenable to mistakes and lapses.
• To make the payment for the treatment, wherever
applicable, to the doctors/hospital promptly.
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11. PATIENT’S RESPONSIBILITIES
• To respect the autonomy of the doctors and nurses.
• To treat doctors and nurses with respect.
• To be punctual to attend the clinics/hospital/dispensary
for the treatment at the given time.
• To preserve all the records of one’s illness.
• To keep the doctor informed if the patient wants to
change the hospital/doctor.
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