THE MORAL ISSUE

Patient’s Right

The moral and inviolable power vested in a person to hold or to demand something as his own.

Right to Informed Consent, Right to Informed Decision, Right to Informed Choice, and Right to Refusal of Treatment.

Types of Patient’s Right

Right to Informed Consent

The patient has the right to receive all necessary information concerning diagnosis and treatment in order to be able to give consent based on his/her value system.

Informed Consent

Refers to the knowledge or information about and the consent to a particular form of medical treatment before the treatment is administered.

Information in Informed Consent

Should include the risks and advantages of any medical treatment that concerns the patient.

Right to Informed Decision

Information and understanding are necessary for genuine deliberation.

Genuine Deliberation

Requires both information and understanding.

Information and Understanding

The two important elements necessary for a patient to make a moral decision.

Right to Informed Decision

Refers to the necessary information of and decision on a medical treatment before the latter is carried out.

Right to Informed Decision

The patient must be informed about the whole process and must understand what the information pertains to so that an appropriate moral decision can be arrived at.

Right to Informed Choice

Refers to the necessary information a patient should know about the medical treatment or experiment so that a moral choice can be made.

Right to Informed Choice

The patient has the right to be informed about all possible alternative courses of action to be taken together with the possible consequences.

Patient’s Decision in Informed Choice

As the patient consents to undergo treatment, he/she decides on its own; the patient makes a decision.

Competence, Disclosure, Comprehension, and Voluntariness.

4 Major Elements of Informed Consent

Right to Refusal of Treatment

The patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and to be informed of the medical consequences of his action.

American Hospital Association

Organization associated with the “Statement on a Patient’s Bill of Rights” presented in relation to the patient’s right to refuse treatment.

Statement on a Patient’s Bill of Rights

States that the patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and to be informed of the medical consequences of his action.

Limitation of a Patient’s Right

A patient’s right does not include the right to be allowed to die.

Patient in Moribund Condition

Does not possess the necessary mental or emotional stability to make an informed choice.

Moribund Patient

A patient who does not possess the necessary mental or emotional stability to make an informed choice.

Patient’s Rights

Are not absolute.

Written Consent and Verbal Consent

2 Methods of Obtaining Informed Consent

Written Consent

Consent in which a consent form is filled up and signed by a patient as he/she checks in for admission in a hospital.

Verbal Consent

Occurs whenever the patient verbally signifies his/her willingness to undergo medical treatment; informed consent is met.

Patients Who Need Not Require Informed Consent

Comatose or obtunded patients.

Blind or illiterate patients.

Underaged patients or those unable to understand the circumstances

Language Barrier

Comatose Patients

Patients who are unconscious and are included among the types of patients who need not require informed consent.

Obtunded Patients

Patients with reduced alertness who are included among the types of patients who need not require informed consent.

The Right of Patients

Patients have specific rights concerning their care, information, consent, refusal of treatment, privacy, confidentiality, services, institutional relationships, research, continuity of care, billing, and hospital rules.

Right of Patients

The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care.

The patient has the right to obtain from his physician complete current information concerning his diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in terms that the patient can be reasonably expected to understand.

The patient has the right to receive informed consent prior to the start of any procedure and/or treatment.

The patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law and to be informed of the medical consequences of his action.

The patient has the right to every consideration of his/her privacy concerning his own medical care.

The patient has the right to expect that all communications and records pertaining to his care should be treated as confidential

The patient has the right that, within its capacity, the hospital must provide a reasonable response to his/her request for services.

The patient has the right to obtain information regarding any relationship of his hospital to other health care and educational institutions insofar as his care is concerned.

The patient has the right to be advised if the hospital proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting his/her care or treatment.

The patient has the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.

The patient has the right to expect reasonable continuity of care.

The patient has the right to examine and receive an explanation of the hospital bill regardless of source of payment.

The patient has the right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply to his/her conduct as a patient.

Patient Responsibilities

Just as imaging professionals have to abide by the Patients Bill of Rights, patients also have responsibilities when they present for health care.

Patient Responsibility

The patient has the responsibility to provide, to the best of his/her knowledge, an accurate and complete health history.

The patient has the responsibility for keeping appointments and for notifying the responsible health professional, practitioner, or the hospital when he/she is unable to do so for any reason.

The patient is responsible for fulfilling the financial obligations of his/her health care as promptly as possible.

The patient is responsible for his/her actions when refusing an examination, procedure, or treatment or not following the practitioner’s instructions.

The patient is responsible for following hospital rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct.

The patient is responsible for being considerate of the rights and property of others as well as the institution.