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Patients shall, at admission,
be told that there are legal rights for their protection
during their stay at the facility for their course of
treatment and maintenance in the community and
applicable rights and responsibilities set forth in this
section… Reasonable accommodations shall be made for
those with communication impairments and those who speak
a language other than English. Current facilities
policies, inspection findings of state and local health
authorities, and further explanation of the written
statement of rights shall be available to patients,
their guardians, or their chosen representatives upon
reasonable request to the Administrator or other staff
person, consistent with Chapter 13, the Data Practices
Act, and Section 626.557, relating to vulnerable adults.
Patients
shall have the right to be treated with courtesy and
respect for their individuality by employees or persons
providing service in a healthcare facility.
Patients shall have the right to
appropriate medical and personal care based on
individual needs. This right is limited where the
service is not reimbursable by public or private
resources.
Patients
shall have or be given, in writing, the name, business
address, telephone number, and specialty, if any, of the
physician responsible for coordination of their care. In
cases where it is medically inadvisable, as documented
by the attending physician in a patient's care record,
the information shall be given to the patient's guardian
or other person designated by the patient as his or her
representative.
Patients who receive services from
an outside provider are entitled, upon request, to be
told the identity of the provider. Information shall
include the name of the outside provider, the address,
and a description of the service which may be rendered.
In cases where it is medically inadvisable, as
documented by the attending physician in a patient's
care record, the information shall be given to the
patient's guardian or other person designated by the
patient as his or her own representative.
Patients shall be given by their physicians
complete and current information concerning their
diagnosis, treatment, alternatives, risks, and prognosis
as required by the physician's legal duty to disclose.
This information shall be in terms and language the
patients can reasonably be expected to understand.
Patients may be accompanied by a family member or other
chosen representative. This information shall include
the likely medical or major psychological results of the
treatment and its alternatives. In cases where it is
medically inadvisable, as documented by the attending
physician in a patient's medical record, the information
shall be given to the patient's guardian or other person
designated by the patient as his or her representative.
Individuals have the right to refuse this information.
Every patient suffering from any form of breast
cancer shall be fully informed, prior to or at the time
of admission and duration of her stay, of all
alternative methods of treatment which the treating
physician is knowledgeable, including surgical,
radiological, or chemotherapeutic treatments, or
combination of treatments, and the risks associated with
each of those methods.
Notification of Family Members
a. Patients shall have the right to participate in
the planning of their healthcare. This right includes
the opportunity to discuss treatment and alternatives
with individual caregivers, the opportunity to request
and participate in formal care conferences, which may
include a forum for discussion of ethical issues that
may arise in the provision of care, and the right to
include a family member or other chosen
representative. In the event that the patient cannot
be present, a family member or other representative
chosen by the patient may be included in such
conferences.
b. If a patient who enters a facility is
unconscious or comatose or is unable to communicate,
the facility shall make reasonable efforts as required
under paragraph (c) to notify either a family member
or a person designated in writing by the patient as
the person to contact in an emergency that the patient
has been admitted to the facility. The facility shall
allow the family member to participate in treatment
planning, unless the facility knows or has reason to
believe the patient has an effective advance directive
to the contrary or knows the patient has specified in
writing that they do not want a family member included
in the treatment planning, the facility must make
reasonable efforts, consistent with reasonable medical
practice, to determine if the patient has executed an
advance directive relative to the patient's healthcare
decisions. For purposes of this paragraph, "reasonable
efforts" include:
1.) examining the personal effects of the
patient;
2.) examining the medical records of the patient
in the possession of the facility;
3.) inquiring of any emergency contact or family
member contacted whether the patient has executed an
advance directive and whether the patient has a
physician to whom the patient normally goes for
care; and
4.) inquiring of the physician to whom the
patient normally goes for care, if known, whether
the patient has executed an advance directive. If a
facility notifies a family member of designated
emergency contact or allows a family member to
participate in treatment planning in accordance with
this paragraph, the facility is not liable to the
patient damages on the grounds that the notification
of the family member or emergency contact or the
participation of the family member was improper or
violated the patient’s privacy act.
c. In making reasonable efforts to notify a family
member or designated emergency contact, the facility
shall attempt to identify family members or a
designated emergency contact by examining the personal
effects of the patient and the medical records of the
patient in the possession of the facility. If the
facility is unable to notify a family member or
designated emergency contact within 24 hours after the
admission, the facility shall notify the county social
service agency or local law enforcement agency that
the patient has been admitted and the facility has
been unable to notify a family member or designated
emergency contact. The county social service agency
and local law enforcement agency shall assist the
facility in identifying and notifying a family member
or designated emergency contact. A county social
service agency or local law enforcement that assists a
facility is not liable to the patient for damages on
the grounds that notification of the family member or
emergency contact or the participation of the family
member was improper or violated the patient’s privacy
rights.
Patients
shall have the right to be cared for with reasonable
regularity and continuity of staff assignment as far as
facility policy allows.
Competent patients shall have the right to refuse
treatment based on the information in Right Number 6. In
cases where a patient is incapable of understanding the
circumstances but has not been adjudicated incompetent,
or when legal requirements limit the right to refuse
treatment, the conditions and circumstances shall be
fully documented by the attending physician in the
patient’s medical record.
Written, informed consent must be obtained prior to
a patient's participation experimental research.
Patients have the right to refuse participation. Both
consent and refusal shall be documented in individual
care record.
Patients
shall be free from maltreatment as defined in the
Vulnerable Adults Protection Act. "Maltreatment" means
conduct described in Section 626.557 subdivision 15 or
the intentional and nontherapeutic inflection of
physical pain or injury, or any persistent course of
conduct intended to produce mental or emotional
distress. Every patient shall also be free from
nontherapeutic chemical and physical restraints, except
in fully documented emergencies, or as authorized in
writing after examination by a patient's physician for a
specified and limited period of time, and only when
necessary to protect the patient from self-injury or
injury to others.
Patients
shall have the right to respectfulness and privacy as it
relates to their medical and personal care program. Case
discussion, consultation, examination, and treatment are
confidential and shall be conducted discreetly. Privacy
shall be respected during toileting, bathing, and other
activities of personal hygiene, except as needed for
patient safety or assistance.
Patients shall be assured confidential
treatment of their personal and medical records, and may
approve or refuse their release to any individual
outside the facility. Copies of records and written
information from the records shall be made available in
accordance with this subdivision and section 144.335.
This right does not apply to complaint investigations
and inspections by the Department of Health, where
required by third party payment contracts, or where
otherwise provided by law.
Patients shall be informed prior to or at the time
of admission and during their stay, of services which
are included in the facility's basic per diem or daily
room rate and that other services are available at
additional charges. Facilities shall make every effort
to assist patients in obtaining information regarding
whether Medicare or Medical Assistance program will pay
for any or all of the aforementioned services.
Patients
shall have the right to a prompt and reasonable response
to their questions and requests.
Patients
shall have the right to every consideration of their
privacy, individuality, and cultural identity as related
to their social, religious, and psychological
well-being.
Patients shall be
encouraged and assisted, throughout their stay in a
facility or their course of treatment, to understand and
exercise their rights as patients and citizens. Patients
may voice grievances and recommend changes in policies
and services to facility staff and others of their
choice, free from restraint, interference, coercion,
discrimination, or reprisal, including threat or
discharge. Notice of the grievance procedure of the
facility or program, as well as addresses and telephone
numbers for the Office of Health Facility Complaints and
the area nursing home ombudsman, pursuant to the Older
Americans Act, section 307(a)(12) shall be posted in a
conspicuous place.
Every acute care inpatient facility… shall have a
written internal grievance procedure that, at minimum,
sets forth the process to be followed; specifies time
limits, including time limits for facility response;
provides for the patient to have the assistance of an
advocate; requires a written response to written
grievances; and provides a timely decision by an
impartial decision maker if the grievance is not
otherwise resolved. Compliance by hospitals, residential
programs as defined in Section 7 which are
hospital-based primary treatment programs, and
outpatient surgery centers with section 144.691 and
compliance by health maintenance organizations with
section 62D.11 is deemed to be in compliance with the
requirement for a written internal grievance procedure.
Patients may associate and communicate
privately with persons of their choice and enter, and
except as provided by the Minnesota Commitment Act,
leave the facility as they choose. Patients shall have
access, at their expense, to writing instruments,
stationery, and postage. Personal mail shall be sent
without interference and received unopened unless
medically or programmatically contra-indicated and
documented by the physician in the medical record. There
shall be access to a telephone where patients can make
and receive calls as well as speak privately. Facilities
which are unable to provide this private area shall make
reasonable arrangements to accommodate the privacy of
patient's calls. This right is limited where medically
inadvisable, as documented by the attending physician in
a patient's care record. Where programmatically limited
by a facility abuse prevention plan pursuant to the
Vulnerable Adults Protection Act, section 626.557
section 14, clause 2, this right shall also be limited
accordingly.
Patients
may retain and use their personal clothing and
possessions as space permits, unless to do so would
infringe upon rights of other patients, and unless
medically or programmatically contra-indicated for
documented medical, safety, or programmatic reasons. The
facility may, but is not required to, provide
compensation for or replacement of lost or stolen items.
Patients shall not perform labor or
services for the facility unless those activities are
included for therapeutic purposes and appropriately
goal-related in their individual medical record.
Patients shall have the right of reasonable access
at reasonable times to any available rights protection
services and advocacy services so that the patient may
receive assistance in understanding, exercising, and
protecting the rights described in this section and in
other law. This right shall include the opportunity for
private communication between the patient and a
representative of the rights protection service or
advocacy service.
Upon admission to a
facility, where federal law prohibits unauthorized
disclosure of patient identifying information to callers
and visitors, the patient or the legal guardian or
conservator of the patients, shall be given the
opportunity to authorize disclosure of the patient's
presence in the facility to callers and visitors who may
seek to communicate with the patient. To the extent
possible, legal guardian or conservator of the patient
shall consider the opinions of the patient regarding the
disclosure of the patient's presence in the facility.
A
minor patient who has been admitted to a residential
program as defined in Section 7 has the right to be free
from physical restraint and isolation except in
emergency situations involving a likelihood that the
patient will physically harm the patient's self or
others. These procedures may not be used for
disciplinary purposes, to enforce program rules, or for
the convenience of staff. Isolation or restraint may be
used only upon the prior authorization of a physician,
psychiatrist, or licensed consulting psychologist, only
when less restrictive measures are ineffective or not
feasible and only for the shortest time necessary.
A minor
patient who has been admitted to a residential program
as defined in Section 7 has the right to a written
treatment plan that describes in behavioral terms the
case problems, the precise goals of the plan, and the
procedures that will be utilized to minimize the length
of time that the minor requires inpatient treatment. The
plan shall also state goals for release to a less
restrictive facility and follow-up treatment measures
and services, if appropriate. To the degree possible,
the minor patient and his or her parents or guardian
shall be involved in the development of the treatment
and discharge plan.
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