Patient Rights & Responsibilities

At Valley Presbyterian Hospital, we are committed to delivering the best care possible to all of our patients. We treat each patient as an individual and strive to show you the same dignity and respect we would to a member of our own family. We are committed to facilitating your care through clear communication between you and the entire health care team. We understand and respect that you are the ultimate decision-maker for your care. You have the right to personal consideration, information about your care and full participation in your plan of care. You, or the person legally responsible to make decisions regarding your care, should expect the following from us:

Your Rights as a Patient

1. Considerate and respectful care, and to be made comfortable. You have the right to have your cultural, psychosocial, spiritual, and personal values, beliefs and preferences respected.

2. Have a family member (or other representative of your choosing) and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
3. 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 nonphysicians who will see you.
4. Receive information about your health status, diagnosis, prognosis, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and outcomes of care (including unanticipated outcomes) in terms you can understand. You have the right to access your medical records. 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 forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
5. Make decisions regarding medical care, and receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as you may need in order to give informed consent or 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 nontreatment and the risks involved in each, and the name of the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Reasonable responses to any reasonable requests made for service.
9. Appropriate assessment and management of your pain, information about pain, pain relief measures and to participate in pain management decisions. You may request or reject the use of any or all modalities to relieve pain, including opiate medication, if you suffer 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 pain with methods that include the use of opiates.
10. 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. Hospital 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Be free from restraints and seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff.
15. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments as well as the identity of the persons providing the care.
16. 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 may also be provided this information.
17. Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
18. Designate a support person, as well as visitors of your choosing, if you have decision-making capacity, whether or not the visitor is related by blood, marriage, or registered domestic partner status, unless:
    a. No visitors are allowed.
    b. 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 to the health facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility.
    c. You have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit.
    
    Please note that a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors. 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, sexual orientation, or disability.
19. Your wishes will be considered as to who may visit, even if you lack decision-making capacity. 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 any persons living in your household and any support person pursuant to federal law.
20. Examine and receive an explanation of the hospital’s bill regardless of the source of payment.
21. Exercise these rights without regard to, and be free of discrimination on the basis of sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, medical condition, marital status, registered domestic partner status, genetic information, citizenship, primary language, immigration status (except as required by federal law) or the source of payment for care.
22. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing or by calling. Please send written requests to: Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Attn: Risk Department, 15107 Vanowen Street, Van Nuys, CA 91405 or by calling 818.902.5745. 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, and 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 (PRO).
23. File a complaint with the California Department of Public Health, DNV Healthcare, or California Department or Fair Employment and Housing regardless of whether you use the hospital’s grievance process:
    1. California Department of Public Health
       CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
       Licensing & Certification Office
       3400 Aerojet Ave., Unit 323
       El Monte, CA 91731
       Phone: 800.228.1019
    2. DNV Healthcare
       Website: www.dnvhealthcareportal.com/patient-complaint-report
       Email: hospitalcomplaint@dnv.com
       Phone: 866.496.9647
       Fax: 281.870.4818
       Mail:
       DNV Healthcare USA Inc.
       Attn: Hospital Complaints
       4435 Aicholtz Road, Suite 900
       Cincinnati, OH 45245
    3. The Department of Fair Employment and Housing
       Email: contact.center@dfeh.ca.gov
       Phone: 800.884.1684
24. For issues related to physicians, complaints can be filed with the Medical Board of California. You may contact the Medical Board of California at:
    Email (through their website): www.mbc.ca.gov/Breeze/Complaints.aspx
    Phone: 800.633.2322

Your Responsibilities as a Patient

1. Be considerate to all hospital personnel and other patients and to ensure that your visitors are also considerate to other patients and hospital personnel.
2. Observe all hospital rules.
3. Supply accurate and complete medical history information to your physicians and others. You have the responsibility to participate in your care in order to make informed choices. If you do not follow the treatment plan agreed upon, you have the responsibility to understand the consequences of your actions.
4. You have the responsibility to notify your physician or other health care providers if the designated treatment plans cannot be followed or you have any changes in your health status.
5. Keep appointments and the responsibility for informing the hospital when you cannot keep your appointment.
6. Provide information necessary to ensure processing bills by the hospital and to plan for the payment of those bills as soon as possible.

7. SOURCES: Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations and the Joint Commission, DNV