placentia-linda-400x136-hospital-logo-new

Your Patient Rights

Know your rights and responsibilities

As a patient at Placentia-Linda Hospital, you have specific rights and responsibilities during your hospital stay. The following rights incorporate the requirements of The Joint Commission; Title 22, California Code of Regulations, Section 70707, and Health and Safety Code Sections 1262.6, 1288.4 and 124960; and 42 C.F.R. Section 482.13 (Medicare Conditions of Participation).

You have the right to:

  1. Considerate and respectful care, and to be made comfortable.
  2. Respect for your cultural, psychosocial, spiritual and personal values, beliefs and preferences.
  3. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
  4. Know the name of the licensed healthcare practitioner acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure, who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care, and the names and professional relationships of physicians and non-physicians who will see you.
  5. Receive information about your health status, diagnosis, prognosis, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and 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 in the course of your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitative services and foregoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
  6. Make decisions regarding medical care, and receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as you may need in order to refuse a course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information shall include a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant 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.
  7. Request or refuse treatment, to the extent permitted by law. However, you do not have the right to demand inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment or services. You have the right to leave the hospital even against the advice of members of the medical staff, to the extent permitted by law.
  8. Be advised if the hospital/licensed healthcare practitioner, acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure, proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting your care or treatment. You have the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.
  9. Reasonable response to any reasonable requests made for service.
  10. Appropriate assessment and management of your pain, information about pain, pain relief measures and participation in pain-management decisions. You may request or reject pain-relief treatment, including opiate medication, if you suffer from severe chronic intractable pain. The doctor may refuse to prescribe the opiate medications but, if so, must inform you that there are physicians who specialize in the treatment of pain with using opiates.
  11. Formulate advance directives. This includes designating a decision-maker if you become incapable of understanding a proposed treatment or become unable to communicate your wishes regarding care. 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 care on your behalf.
  12. Have personal privacy respected. Case discussion, consultation, examination and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly. You have the right to be told the reason for the presence of any individual. You have the right to have visitors leave prior to an examination and when treatment issues are being discussed. Privacy curtains will be used in semi-private rooms.
  13. Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care and stay in the hospital. You will receive a separate “Notice of Privacy Practices” that explains your privacy rights in detail and how we may use and disclose your protected health information.
  14. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or harassment. You have the right to access protective and advocacy services, including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.
  15. Be free from restraints and seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff.
  16. Reasonable continuity of care and to know, in advance, the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of the people providing the care.
  17. Be informed by the physician, or a delegate of the physician, 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 also may be provided with this information.
  18. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
  19. Designate a support person, as well as visitors of your choosing if you have decision-making capacity, including but not limited to: a spouse, domestic partner,, another family member or a friend. A health facility may establish reasonable restrictions for such visitation, including the hours of visitation and number of visitors. A health facility also may deny such visitation at times when no visitors are allowed; if the facility reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of a patient, a member of the health facility staff or other visitor, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility; or you have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit. The health facility must inform you (or your support person, where appropriate) of your visitation rights, including any clinical restrictions or limitations. The health facility is not permitted to restrict, limit or otherwise deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation or disability.
  20. Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capacity, for the purposes of determining who may visit. The method of that consideration will comply with federal law and be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, the hospital shall include people living in your household and any support person pursuant to federal law.
  21. Examine and receive an explanation of the hospital’s bill regardless of the source of payment.
  22. Exercise these rights without regard to age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, or the source of payment for care.
  23. Have a chaperone present during certain sensitive physical examinations and treatments. Sensitive physical examinations and treatments typically involve the reproductive and sexual organs, those that may be perceived as potentially threatening to a patient’s sense of privacy or modesty, or those that may induce feelings of vulnerability or embarrassment. Healthcare providers should be aware that a patient’s cultural and religious beliefs might necessitate the presence of a chaperone or same-gender providers.

You are responsible for:

The care you receive depends partly on you. Therefore, in addition to these rights, you have certain responsibilities. These responsibilities are presented in the spirit of mutual trust and respect. As a patient, you have a responsibility to:

  1. Provide accurate and complete information concerning your present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications and other matters relating to your health.
  2. Report to the responsible practitioner any perceived risks in your care, unexpected changes in your condition and any concerns or errors you observe.
  3. Ask questions about your condition, treatments, procedures, clinical laboratory and other diagnostic test results, as well as clarify when you do not understand what you have been told about your care or what you are expected to do.
  4. Help physicians, nurses and other medical personnel in their efforts to care for you by following their instructions and medical orders.
  5. Keep appointments and notify the hospital or physician when you are unable to do so. We would appreciate authorized family members be available for the review of your treatment in the event you are unable to properly communicate with the physicians or nurses.
  6. Take ownership of your actions should you refuse treatment or not follow your physician's orders.
  7. Assure that the financial obligations of your hospital care are fulfilled as promptly as possible, either through third-party payers (insurance companies) or payment for services not covered by your insurance.
  8. Follow hospital policies and procedures.
  9. Be considerate of the rights of other patients and hospital staff.
  10. Be respectful of your personal property and that of others in the hospital.

Complaints:

If you want to file a complaint with this hospital, you may do so by writing or calling:

Placentia-Linda Hospital
1301 N. Rose Drive
Placentia, CA 92870
(714) 524-4877

To file a complaint with the state Department of Health Services, regardless of whether you use the hospital’s grievance process, call or write:

California Department of Health Services
681 S. Parker St. Suite 200
Orange, CA 92868
(714) 567-2906

Grievances may also be filed with:

The Joint Commission (TJC)
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

For complaints or grievances filed to hospital staff, the grievance committee will review each grievance and provide you with a written response within 30 days. The written response will contain:

  • The name of a person to contact at the hospital
  • The steps taken to investigate the grievance
  • The results of the grievance process
  • The date of completion of the grievance process

Concerns regarding quality of care or premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Utilization and Quality Control Peer Review Organization.