Your Rights

The Hershey Endoscopy Center is a federal and state licensed ambulatory surgical facility. It is regularly inspected and conforms to the guidelines of national accreditation organizations.

It is the policy of all our doctors, nurses and other medical staff members to respect your individuality, dignity and privacy and to make your stay as pleasant as possible. As a patient at the Hershey Endoscopy Center, you have specific rights that protect your interests. You also have responsibilities to help us to provide you with efficient, quality care. Together, these rights and responsibilities provide the basis for a more positive, mutually beneficial patient-physician relationship.

YOUR RIGHTS

1. You have the right to quality medical care and appropriate treatment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual preference, national origin, handicap or the source of payment for your care.
2. You have the right to good quality care and high professional standards that are continually maintained and reviewed.
3. You have the right to be addressed properly, to be heard when you have a question or need more information and to be given an appropriate and helpful response. You will be provided with an interpreter, if possible, so that language differences are not a barrier.
4. You have the right to good health care management techniques that make the most effective use of your time and still provide for your comfort and convenience.
5. You have the right to a very high degree of privacy. Case discussions, consultations, examinations and treatment plans are confidential and should be conducted discreetly. When you are examined you are entitled to know what role any observer may have in your care. You may request that any observer not required for your care leaves the examination area.
6. At the Hershey Endoscopy Center, your records are confidential, and no person or agency beyond those caring for you is permitted access to this information without your specific permission. However, you have the right to request access to all the information in your medical record unless specifically restricted by your attending physician for medical reasons or prohibited by law. You have a right to receive a full and prompt explanation regarding any such restriction.
7. You have the right to know the name of the doctor who is responsible for your care, to talk with that doctor and any others who give you care. You have the right to know who will perform any test or operation.
8. You have the right to receive full information in layman’s terms concerning your medical problems, the planned course of treatment, a full explanation of procedures and tests and the prognosis, or medical outlook for your future. This includes information about alternative treatments and possible complications. You have the right to receive adequate instruction in self-care, prevention of disability and maintenance of your health. When it is not medically advisable to give the information to you, it will be given on your behalf to your family or significant other.
9. You have the right to refuse any particular procedure or treatment. Before any test or other procedure is performed, you may be asked to sign a form giving your consent. If you are unable to give informed consent, a responsible person may do so for you. You have the right to receive from the doctor information that is necessary for you to be able to give an informed consent prior to the start of any procedure or treatment. Except in emergencies when procedures must be implemented without unnecessary delay, such information should include the specific risks involved, the probable time that you will be incapacitated and what alternatives there may be to the particular procedure or treatment proposed. If you refuse to give consent to a particular procedure or treatment, you have the right to receive the help that HEC can still offer under the circumstances.
10. You or, if you are unable to give consent, a responsible person, have the right to be advised when your physician is considering you as part of a medical care research program or donor program. You, or a responsible person, must give informed consent prior to the actual participation in the program. You have the right to refuse to continue in a program to which you have previously given informed consent.
11. You have the right to expect that the Hershey Endoscopy center will provide a mechanism whereby you are informed upon discharge of your continuing health care requirements and means for fulfilling them. Also, if there is a need to transfer you to another health facility, you have the right to be told the reasons and whether there may be any alternatives to such a transfer, and the receiving institution will be notified of that transfer.
12. You have the right to expect emergency procedures to be implemented without unnecessary delay.
13. You have the right to assistance in obtaining consultation with another physician at your request and your own expense.
14. You have the right to examine and receive a detailed explanation of your bill.
15. If a patient is adjudged incompetent under applicable State health and safety laws buy a court of proper jurisdiction the rights of the patient are exercised by the person appointed under State law to act on the patient’s behalf.
16. If a State court has not adjudged a patient incompetent, any legal representative designated by the patient in accordance with State law may exercise the patient’s rights to the extent allowed by State law.
17. You have the right to personal privacy, receive care in a safe setting, and be free from all forms of abuse or harassment.
18. All of our patients have the right to be informed of these rights at the earliest possible moment in the course of medical care at HEC.

The patient has the right to exercise his or her rights without being subjected to discrimination or reprisal, voice grievances regarding treatment or care that is or fails to be furnished, be fully informed about a treatment or procedure and the expected outcome before it is performed.

If a patient feels his rights have been violated, they are to contact one of the following:

• Administrator, Hershey Endoscopy Center
• PA Dept of Health, Department of Acute and Ambulatory Care
• The office of the Medicare Beneficiary Ombudsman