Patient Rights & Responsibilities

 
Each patient treated at the Bakersfield Specialists Surgical Center has the right to:

1. Be treated with respect, consideration, and dignity.
2. Be free from any act of discrimination or reprisal.
3. Voice grievances regarding treatment or care that is (or fails to be) furnished.
4. Be fully informed about a treatment or procedure and the expected outcome before it is performed.
5. Personal privacy
6. Receive care in a safe setting by competent and appropriately qualified personnel
7. Be free from all forms of abuse or harassment.
8. Be given the name of their attending physician, the names of all other physicians directly assisting in their care, and the names and functions of other health care persons having direct contact with the patient.
9. Have records pertaining to their medical care treated as confidential.
10. Know what surgery center rules and regulations apply to their conduct as a patient.
11. Expect emergency procedures to be implemented without necessary delay.
12. Expect the absence of clinically unnecessary diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.
13. The expedient and professional transfer to another facility when medically necessary and to have the responsible person and the facility that the patient is transferred to notified prior to transfer.
14. Treatment that is consistent with clinical impression or working diagnosis.
15. Good quality care and high professional standards that are continually maintained and reviewed.
16. An increased likelihood of desired health outcomes.
17. Full information in layman’s terms concerning appropriate and timely diagnosis, treatment, and preventive measures; if it is not medically advisable to provide this information to the patient, the information shall be given to the responsible person on his/her behalf.
18. Receive a second opinion concerning the proposed surgical procedure, if requested.
19. Accessible and available health services; information on after-hour and emergency care.
20. Receive an informed consent to the physician prior to the start of a procedure.
21. Be advised of participation in a medical care research program or donor program; the patient shall give consent prior to participation in such a program; a patient may also refuse to continue in a program that has previously given informed consent to participate in.
22. Receive appropriate and timely follow-up information of abnormal findings and tests.
23. Receive appropriate and timely referrals and consultation.
24. Receive information regarding “continuity of care”.
25. Refuse drugs or procedures and have a physician explain the medical consequences of the drugs or procedures.
26. Appropriate specialty consultative services made available by prior arrangement.
27. Medical and nursing services without discrimination based upon age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, disability, or source of payment.
28. Have access to an interpreter whenever possible.
29. Be provided with, upon written request, access to all information contained in their medical record.
30. Accurate information regarding the competence and capabilities of the organization.
31. Appropriate information regarding the absence of malpractice insurance coverage, if the situation exists.
32. Change primary or specialty physicians or dentists if other qualified physicians or dentists are available.
33. Health services provided are consistent with current professional knowledge.

 
Each patient treated at this Ambulatory Surgery Center has the responsibility to:

1. Keep your appointment and notify the facility if you are unable to do so.
2. Read and understand all consents you sign. Please ask questions for clarification before signing consents.
3. Be accurate and complete, as much as possible, in giving your medical history.
4. Carry identification with you.
5. Let us know if you don’t understand any part of your treatment. Ask questions and
take part in your healthcare decisions.
6. Following the treatment plan established by the physician, including instructions of nurses and other health care professionals as they carry out the physician’s orders.
7. Arrange for a responsible adult to drive you home and stay with you for 24 hours after
surgery (as may be required by your physician).
8. Pay your financial obligations promptly; if there is a hardship, let us know as soon as
possible so we may help you.
9. Treat staff and other patients with respect.
10. Regard other patients’ medical information as confidential.
11. Let us know when you are having pain or when your pain is not being managed.
12. Respect the Center’s property and equipment.
13. Inform staff about any advance directive that you have in place.
14. Provide full cooperation with regards to instructions given by his/her surgeon, anesthesiologist, and operative care (pre and post).
15. Provide the surgery center staff with all medical information that may have a direct effect on the provider at the surgery center.
16. Provide the surgery center with all information regarding third-party insurance coverage.
17. Fulfill financial responsibility, for all services received, as determined by the patient’s insurance carrier.