Patient Rights Law

This FindLaw section provides resources on patient rights and long-term care. You’ll find articles on:

• Planning for medical care
• Your rights with prescription medications
• Informed consent
• Determining whether you need long-term care insurance
• Death with dignity laws by state
• How to evaluate online health information
• And more

Use the menus below to navigate to the most relevant topic, or scroll down to learn more. For targeted legal advice, contact a healthcare attorney near you. An experienced lawyer can discuss your goals and concerns and make recommendations that protect your medical rights, reflect your care preferences, and hold healthcare providers accountable.

Patient Rights: Getting Started

Many state and federal laws protect patients’ rights. These laws cover various areas related to medical care, patient records, and healthcare services. For example, under informed consent laws, medical professionals must disclose the potential risks, benefits, and alternatives to treatment. The physician must then get the patient’s written consent before proceeding.

Patients have a right to privacy over their protected health information under HIPAA’s Privacy Rule. Under HIPAA, patients have a right to see, examine and request changes to their records. Other laws help protect patient care, such as the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).

Specific patient rights may vary by state. But organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) recognize that the physician-patient relationship is collaborative with contributions from both parties.

Understanding patient rights is foundational to this collaborative relationship. Patients and their caregivers strengthen this collaboration when they seek care. Physicians strengthen this collaboration through patient advocacy and respecting patients’ rights.

Regulatory Agencies

Several federal laws regulate different aspects of our health care system. After Congress passes healthcare legislation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) implements it. Consider HIPAA, for example. Congress passed HIPAA in 2009, and HHS enforces this law through its Office for Civil Rights.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, another governmental agency, regulates many of the products, food, and drugs we use in the U.S. The FDA regulates medical devices, vaccines, blood, and biologics. It regulates drugs through the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER). The CDER approves drugs before pharmaceutical companies can sell a drug to the public.

Health Care Regulations

There are several federal health care regulations that help protect patients. Here are a few of these regulations:

• HIPAA protects patients’ privacy rights. This means health care organizations and health care professionals cannot use your protected health information without your consent.
• The Affordable Care Act (ACA) helps ensure all Americans have access to health care.
• The Health Information Technology and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) addresses the privacy and security concerns associated with the electronic transmission of health information. HITECH is an HHS initiative.
• The Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) protects patients by ensuring physicians do not accept payment in exchange for making certain referrals.
• The False Claims Act (FCA) regulates healthcare fraud. The FCA applies to anyone “who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government.”

Patient Bill of Rights

A patient’s bill of rights is a document many patients or their caregivers receive during a health care encounter. Consider, for example, a person who visits the nearest emergency room to seek care. That person should receive the facility’s patient bill of rights as part of the registration process. This document will identify the rights and responsibilities of all patients at that facility or health care system.

There is no uniform patient bill of rights in the United States (U.S.). The patient bill of rights you receive in a hospital or an outpatient setting may vary from hospital to hospital and state to state. Despite this, a few rights remain constant in most clinical settings or health care facilities. These rights include, but are not limited to:

• Right to privacy
• Right to respectful care consistent with your beliefs
• Right to complete information from your provider about your medical condition or treatment plan
• Right to make an informed decision
• Right to refuse treatment
• Right to copies of your medical records
• Right to a second opinion
• Right to continuity of care
• Right to make advance directives

In many health care facilities, the patient bill of rights often includes contact information for the facility’s patient advocate. The patient advocate can help patients navigate patient rights issues.

Right To Privacy

One of the main issues that arises in health care law involves patient privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) prohibits health care providers from disclosing patients’ medical records without consent.

Patients have legal options if an improper disclosure occurs. First, they can file a complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Second, depending on the laws of their state, they can seek compensation by filing a suit for invasion of privacy.

Learning that your private health information has been shared without your consent can feel jarring and unsettling. But you have options. An attorney near you can review your situation and explain what legal options are available under your state’s laws.

Right To Respectful Care

All patients have a right to dignity and respect from healthcare professionals. This includes respect for their beliefs. Consider, for example, people whose faith prohibits blood transfusions. Everyone involved in that patient’s care must respect those beliefs.

Right To Complete Information

Patients and their caregivers rely on healthcare professionals in their decision-making process. Complete information helps patients make choices for their care and well-being.

Right To Informed Consent

Informed consent laws require health service providers to explain the potential risks and benefits of medical treatment. This includes the medical consequences of treatment. The provider must then obtain the patient’s written consent before proceeding. If a provider’s failure to do so harms a patient, the provider risks liability for medical malpractice.

Right To Refuse Treatment

Healthcare providers cannot force patients to receive care. The provider must give the patient all necessary information to make an informed decision and respect the patient’s decision. For example, an informed cancer patient can refuse treatment, and their provider must respect that decision.

Right to Copies of Your Medical Records

Most health care facilities have procedures where patients can request copies of their medical records. Check with your provider for more information if you need copies of your medical records.

Right to a Second Opinion

Patients do not have to accept their provider’s information. They can ask for a second opinion or seek it out independently.

Right to Continuity of Care

According to the American Medical Association, patients have the right to continuity of care. Under this patient right, providers must cooperate in coordinating with other health care professionals and not abruptly discontinue care. At inpatient mental health facilities, the patient’s providers will make appropriate referrals to outpatient providers to ensure minimal disruptions in care.

Right to an Advance Directive

Patients can communicate their health care preferences through advance directives like a living will. Patients can designate someone, often a family member, to make health care decisions.

Planning for Long-Term Care

As the population ages, many Americans and their caregivers face important long-term care decisions. But before making arrangements, you should educate yourself about the options for older Americans.

Planning ahead for your long-term care can help alleviate stress and uncertainty for your loved ones and family. An attorney can help you with a durable power of attorney, planning for the financial impact of long-term care, and more. Find local legal help.

Get Legal Help With a Patient Rights Issue

If you or a loved one is facing issues concerning patient rights, a health law attorney can help. They are experts in health care law and can provide sound legal advice tailored to your situation and state laws. Consult an experienced healthcare lawyer today.

FindLaw’s directory of healthcare attorneys can get you started. Enter your city or ZIP code for a list of qualified legal professionals near you. Because your state’s laws are relevant, your attorney should be licensed in your state. Your search results will also show important details about prospective attorneys, like ratings and whether they offer free case evaluations.