Your Rights & Responsibilities

You Have the Right to the Best Care

Purpose

To acknowledge patients’ rights and responsibilities and Beaufort Memorial’s responsibility to respond to each patient with personal dignity and respect in a smoke-free environment.

Beaufort Memorial provides Patient Rights and Responsibilities information to each inpatient, outpatient and/or family, patient spokesperson or legal guardian. If the patient, patient spokesperson or legal guardian is unable to understand English, hospital personnel will ensure the patient receives information in a way he/she can understand.

Patient Rights

Personal spokesperson, visitation and communication

1. Patient’s Personal Spokesperson: Each patient should choose a personal spokesperson. The spokesperson does not have to be a blood relative of the patient. This spokesperson has full visitation rights and should be involved in the patient’s plan of care; decisions regarding his/her health care (unless another person has been given this authority as a court-appointed guardian, by a power of attorney or by an advance directive); the patient’s pain management program; and the patient’s discharge process. The patient spokesperson also should help to coordinate visitation by family and guests, according to the patient’s preferences.
2. Visitation: The patient has the right to choose who his/her family members are, including, but not limited to, a spouse, domestic partner, same-sex partner, other family members or friends who the patient considers to be his/her family. The patient has the right to receive visitation from these family members and other guests during his/her hospital stay. Family and visitors have a responsibility to comply with any visitation restrictions recommended and communicated by the health care team, based on the needs of the patient.
3. Communication: Within limits appropriate for the privacy and well-being of the patient and other patients, communication between the patient and others outside Beaufort Memorial is respected. If the patient is hearing impaired or does not speak and understand the English language, interpreters and/or text and/or telephones will be provided free of charge.
4. Notification of Hospital Admission: The patient has a right to have his/her family and personal physician notified of admission within a reasonable amount of time.

Respect and Nondiscrimination

1. Access to Treatment: Within the capacity and scope of its mission and services, Beaufort Memorial respects and supports the patient’s right to impartial access to treatment/services that are consistent with relevant laws and regulations and medically indicated.
2. Personal Privacy: The right of the patient to personal, visual and auditory privacy will be honored to the extent reasonable.
3. Restraint and Seclusion: The patient shall be free from restraints of any form that are not medically necessary. The patient has the right to be free from restraints and seclusion except in the case of an emergency, where there is an imminent risk of an individual’s physically harming himself/herself or others, or where less restrictive interventions would be ineffective.  
4. Psychosocial, Cultural and Spiritual Values: The patient has a right to exercise his/her cultural and personal values, beliefs, preferences and spiritual beliefs as long as they do not interfere with the well-being of others, the planned course of any medical care and/or hospital operations.
5. Photographs, Filming or Recording: Photographs, filming or recording will not be granted without the informed consent of the patient or his/her legal representative. Patients may refuse the photographing, recording or filming of care, and they may request such action(s) stop anytime during the process even if prior consent was given.
6. Safety and Security: The patient has a right to be protected from the risks of the hospital environment. The Hospital’s Patient Safety/Hospital Performance Improvement Committee, Environment of Care Committee, Infection Control Committee and Risk Management Program will seek to eliminate risks to the patient.

Participation in Treatment Decisions

1. Advance Directives: Formulation and use of advance directives and designation of surrogate decision-makers on your behalf to the extent permitted by law.
2. Explanation of Medical Care: To the extent desired by the patient, the patient has the right to be informed in a clear, concise manner of his/her condition and/or proposed procedures, including risks, benefits and prognosis, and any continuing health requirements after his/her discharge in terms he/she can understand. 
3. Medical Decisions: The patient has a right to make decisions concerning his/her care in the inpatient and outpatient areas, advance directives and the refusal of care. Should the patient be unable to make these decisions, the patient may appoint a surrogate to act on his/her behalf.
4. Discharge Planning: Patients may request a discharge planning evaluation.
5. Consultations: The patient has the right to request consultation with a specialist. This may be arranged through referral by the patient’s attending physician.
6. Refusal of Care: Patients or their surrogates have the right to refuse care, treatment or services according to the laws of South Carolina and to be informed of the consequences of his/her refusal. 
7. Protective Services: The patient has a right to access protective services, information and assistance.
8. Freedom From Abuse: Patients have a right to be free of mental, physical, sexual and verbal abuse, neglect, and exploitation by staff, visitors, students, volunteers, other patients or family members.
9. Ethics Committee: Conflicts of values, principles or interest in the clinical setting will be resolved through the collaboration of the professional staff and the patient and, when appropriate, the patient’s family or other representative. The Beaufort Memorial Ethics Committee will provide assistance when necessary.

Confidentiality and Information Disclosure

1. Confidentiality: Patient confidentiality is honored within the limits of the law. This includes the patient’s location, identity and medical record, and applies to the sharing of information within the hospital with outside sources.
2. Identity of Caregivers: The patient has the right to know the identity and professional status of individuals providing service to him/her and to know which physician or other practitioner is primarily responsible for his/her care. The patient also has the right to request to speak with his/her attending physician at any time by contacting the charge nurse or nurse supervisor, or by asking any member of the health care team to arrange such communication.
3. Access to Information: The patient has the right to access complete and current information regarding his/her diagnosis, treatment, any known prognosis and outcomes of care, including unanticipated outcomes of care.
4. Investigational Studies/Research Subjects: The patient has the right to refuse to participate in any research activity or to withdraw at any time. This decision does not affect the provision of health care to the patient. Patients participating in research, investigation and clinical trials have the right to adequate information to make an informed consent regarding the research and the right to refuse to participate without compromising their access to care and treatment.
5. Disclosures: The patient has the right to access, request amendments to, and receive an accounting of all disclosures regarding his/her health information as permitted by law.

Patient Responsibilities

1. Provision of Information: The patient has the responsibility to provide, to the best of his/her knowledge, accurate and complete information on all matters relating to his/her health.
2. Asking Questions: Patients are responsible for asking questions when they do not understand what they have been told about their care or what they are expected to do.
3. Following Instructions: The patient is responsible for following the treatment plan mutually agreed upon by the patient, the physicians and other clinicians involved in the patient’s care. The patient has the responsibility to express any concerns they have in their ability to follow or comply with the proposed care or treatment. The patient is expected to remain on the inpatient clinical unit. If the patient refuses to follow instructions regarding leaving the unit, he/she assumes all risk associated with that action.
4. Refusal of Treatment/Accepting Consequences: The patient is responsible for his/her actions and the outcomes of those actions if he/she refuses treatment or does not follow the agreed upon treatment plan.
5. Hospital Charges: The patient is responsible for assuring that the financial obligations of his/her health care are fulfilled as promptly as possible.
6. Hospital Rules and Regulations: The patient is responsible for following hospital rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct.
7. Respect and Consideration: The patient is responsible for being respectful of the property and privacy of others and of the hospital and its employees, and shall conduct himself/herself accordingly.

Patient Safety and Quality of Care Complaints

1. Concerns, Complaints and Grievances: The patient or the patient’s spokesperson, family or legal guardian has a right to voice concerns, complaints or grievances regarding patient safety, quality of care received or premature discharge. If you have concerns, please talk with the patient’s doctor or nurse, or call the Beaufort Memorial patient advocate in our Patient Experience Department at 843-522-5172. Beaufort Memorial has a process for prompt resolution of patient concerns, and details are provided to each patient. Voicing a concern, complaint or grievance will result in timely review, response and, when possible, resolution. Voicing concerns will not affect future care received at the hospital.

If we are unable to resolve your concerns, you can contact the agencies below:

• S.C. Dept. of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) at 800-922-6735
• The Joint Commission online
• Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (Medicaid & Medicare only) at 800-922-3089

Notice of Financial Assistance Program

If you do not qualify for a federal or state medical assistance program and are either uninsured or underinsured, you may qualify for assistance through the Financial Assistance Program. If you think you might need assistance with your medical bill, please contact our Patient Financial Services Department at 843-522-5150 or toll free at 855-852-0456. You can obtain an application by mail or online at BeaufortMemorial.org/FinancialAssistance. We are happy to work with you.

Notice of Nondiscrimination and Accessibility

Beaufort Memorial does not exclude people or discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex. Beaufort Memorial provides free aids and services to people with disabilities or whose primary language is not English to communicate effectively with us, such as qualified sign language interpreters; written information in audible and/or electronic formats; and information written in other languages. If you need these services, contact our patient advocate at 843-522-5172.

Lewis Blackman Patient Safety Information

During your hospital stay, you will receive care and services by people in many roles. Some of these roles are described below. Please ask your doctor or nurse to explain the other people involved in your care if you have any questions.

During your stay, you will be admitted and cared for by a doctor called your “attending physician.” If this doctor cannot see you on a certain day, another provider will be assigned to help cover your care. Your doctor may also ask other providers or specialists to help with your case.

You may see students or trainees here, too. Examples are nursing, medical, physical therapy and social work students. Resident physicians and other people receiving training are under the supervision of a hospital-approved person.

All Beaufort Memorial employees, providers on the medical staff and people in training wear a badge clearly stating their name, department and job or title. That way, you know who is involved in your care, treatment decisions or surgeries.

The nursing team is regularly in contact with doctors and others involved in your care. If you ever have questions, please contact your nurse. If you want to contact your attending doctor or another provider helping with your case, your nurse can call them for you. The nurse, if asked, will also give you a phone number for your attending doctor and can help you make the call.