Patient-Doctor Rights

To be trusted by their doctors.

To be treated without any prejudice.

To be informed regarding the expected cost of treatment & to receive an itemised bill.

To be informed duly about any additional costs that may be incurred due to any change in physical condition.

To change the doctor or the hospital if the cost of treatment is not agreeable.

To be paid fairly & duly for their expertise & service.

To be duly informed by the patient and their family if they are unable to afford the cost of treatment at the time of commencement of treatment.

To know the identity & professional status of the care-providers.

To know which doctor is primarily responsible for their care.

To basic emergency medical care in both government & private medical sector irrespective of their paying capacity.

To be informed about the limitations of the available services after emergency care is provided.

To privacy & confidentiality about their illness & treatment.

To safe custody of all data pertaining to their illness.

To have an attendant inside the examination room/OPD/IPD while attending to any patient of any gender.

To follow due procedure in case patient confidentiality is to be weighed against a public health consideration.

To know about any illness that may have a bearing on public health consideration.

To know about pre-existing infectious diseases.

To receive safe & secure working conditions in the hospital premises.

To withdraw their services, in case they are harmed intentionally, mentally or physically by patients or their family.

To pursue the lawful course in case of verbal or physical assault.

To be considered “innocent” until proven guilty by a court of law & to present their side in a fair manner without any prejudice.

To be protected from media trials.

To be informed if the patient wants to change over to an alternative therapy or if an alternative therapy is being followed concomitantly.

To withdraw treatment after duly informing the patient if the doctor believes that the alternate therapy will interfere with existing line of treatment.

To get the tests done inhouse or the nearest lab in case of an emergency to prevent delay in patient care.

To reorder the tests if they are not done from an approved/registered laboratory.

To not be held responsible for the quality of tests/medications from a laboratory or a pharmacy that the patient has chosen.

To be duly paid for their services before the patient gets discharged from the hospital.

To have all dues cleared by relatives in case of death of the patient.

To counter the complaints made by the patients in a lawful manner & to provide apt justification.

To resort to a legal recourse if they believe that the complaint is frivolous & has been made for personal gains or to defame the doctor.