Patient Rights & Responsibilities

Patient and Family Rights

You have the right to:

Receive care

Receive a copy of your rights and responsibilities
Receive care even if you can’t pay for care
Receive care based on your needs

Give and get information about your care

Choose a support person you want to visit or speak up for you
Have your family or support person and doctor told as soon as possible that you are in the hospital
Know the names of your caregivers (doctors, nurses or any other person helping in your care)
Receive information about your sickness and treatment in the language you want
Receive “An Important Message from Medicare” within 2 days of being in the hospital if you are a Medicare beneficiary
Receive your health information in a fair amount of time.

Help us plan your care

Be told by your doctor about your illness, treatment and chances of healing
Help make the plans for your care, including taking care of your pain
Help make the plans for your care after your hospital stay

Say “Yes” or “No” to care

Receive the facts, including any risks about your care, so that you can say “yes” or “no” to care (this is called informed consent)
Make an advance directive (including a psychiatric advance directive), if you are 18 years old or older. An advance directive is a set of directions that lets you choose what you would like to happen to you if you become too sick and cannot make choices about your care.

Have private and safe care

Have your medical information kept private
Receive care in a safe setting, free from all forms of abuse, harassment or neglect
Only be placed in control devices (which are called restraints) or in a safe room (called seclusion) by specially trained staff and only when medically needed
Have access to protective services, if needed for safety reasons
Receive ethical care, treatment and services

The Ethics Committee is available to help you with difficult healthcare decisions. Any parent or member of the hospital staff may ask to speak to an Ethics Committee member. To request an ethics consult, call the hospital operator or the chaplain’s office at 330-543-8254.

Have visitors

Choose to have or not have visitors
Know when and how many visitors you may have, and if not, be told why

Voice complaints, concerns and questions

Have your complaints heard and answered in a fair amount of time
If you have a complaint that is not corrected by your healthcare team, you can freely speak or write about your concerns to any or all of the following contacts:

A Patient Relations Specialist at 330-543-3534 with concerns or questions about your care.

The Compliance and Privacy Officer at 330-543-3065 if you have questions about your care or privacy.

The Ohio Department of Health by phone at 1-800-342-0553 or by mail at 246 N. High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, to file a formal, written grievance about the quality of patient care, treatment or services received.

The Joint Commission at 800-994-6610, or www.jointcommission.org, with concerns or questions about the quality of patient care, treatment or services.

The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services by phone at 1-877-275-6364 or by mail at 30 East Broad St., 36th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43215-3430, c/o Kathryn Remer, with concerns or questions about the quality of behavioral healthcare, treatment or services.

Behavioral Healthcare Planning

In addition to the rights identified above, you have the right to:

Receive program rules in a manner that you can understand
If you are disoriented or cannot understand your rights at the time of entry, be informed again when you are able to understand
Access and request changes to your health information and receive information about any disclosure of your health information
Be fully informed about our responsibility to end our relationship with you upon reasonable notice or seek orders for involuntary treatment or other legal options when care, treatment or services are refused
Be informed about the hospital’s process for resolving disagreements about care issues
Receive information about your treatment and outcomes of your care to help you share in current and future behavioral healthcare decisions
An informed consent process that includes a discussion about any circumstance under which your health information must be disclosed or reported

Patient and Family Responsibilities

You have a responsibility to help us in the safe delivery of care, treatment and services. We value the information you share in the healthcare process.

You are responsible to and we ask that you:

Give us correct information

Be honest about what you tell us
Tell us about your health risks, such as allergies, eye or hearing problems
Tell us about changes in your health
Ask any questions you might have so that you understand the plan for your care and how you can help with the plan
Tell us who may visit you during your hospital stay
Give us copies of any legal documents if they affect your healthcare, including custody or guardianship documents

Give respect and consideration

You and your visitors are expected to:

Respect the rights of others: patients, families and staff
Honor the privacy of other patients
Follow hospital rules
Keep a quiet environment
Respect Akron Children’s property
Wear or show only items that are fit for a child-friendly environment
Follow our smoke-free environment policy

Keep safe

Ask us to:

Check your patient ID before care, treatment or services
Clean our hands before we care for you
Tell you our name and our role in your care

Speak up

If you have questions about your medications
If you think something is not right

Follow the plan of care

Follow directions given to you by your healthcare team
Understand you are responsible if you say “no” to care or do not follow the plan for your care
Keep your appointments

Pay any charges