Patients’ Rights and Responsibilities

Introduction

Icon is committed to provide personalised health and wellness to every patient. Our patients have the following rights and responsibilities regardless of gender, language, ethnicity, religion, physical conditions or socioeconomic status.

Before any procedure or treatment, patients are advised to consult their doctors about the risks and benefits. Patient should be fully aware of the possibility of complications that might lead to additional medical charges or fees.

Patients’ Right

Right to know

  1. Patients have the right to know medical charges or fees in advance.
  2. Patients have the right to know the details of their illness, including diagnosis, progress, investigations, method, plan and effectiveness of treatment.
  3. Patients have the right to know the name, dosage, method of administration and side effect(s) of the prescribed medications.
  4. Patients have the right to know the purposes and common compilations of any treatment procedures or investigations before giving consent to these procedures, and whether there are other alternative methods.

The right to decide

  1. Patients have the right to consult more than one (1) doctor before giving consent to any treatment.
  2. Patients have the right whether to accept or refuse any medical advice from doctors. If patients decide to refuse their doctor(s)’ recommendations, they should understand the consequences of their decision(s) and be responsible for any possible outcome.
  3. Patients have the right to decide whether or not to participate in medical research.

The right to privacy and confidentiality

  1. The dignity, culture and religious belief of a patient should be respected.
  2. Patients are entitled to privacy and confidentiality regarding their medical information.
  3. Without patients’ prior consent for disclosure, any information obtained during the process or management of their illness should be kept confidential as far practicable, by all medical personnel. However, in order to facilitate the management of illness, doctors may disclose this information to other relevant medical personnel.
  4. Under special circumstances, when patients are suspected to be involved in illegal activities, doctors may also disclose such information to relevant authorities.

The right to obtain personal health records

  1. Patients have the right to obtain information concerning their illness. They are entitled to request a medical report from their attending doctor(s) or a copy of the medical record from the centres but may be required to pay respective processing charges. Patients should ask about the payable charges in advance.

The right to complain

  1. Patients have the right to make a complaint through channels provided for this purpose, and to have any compliant deal with promptly and fairly.

The right to be respected

  1. Patients’ dignity, culture and religious belief should be respected.

Patients’ Responsibilities

  1. Patients should inform their doctors and medical personnel providing services to them all about their present illness, past medical history and other relevant information.
  2. Patients should cooperate with the medical / allied health personnel on the agreed treatment plans or procedures.
  3. Patients should not ask the medical personnel to provide untrue medical information or to issue false receipts, sick leave certificates or medical reports.
  4. Patients have the responsibility to settle all charges on time.
  5. Patients should abide by the rules laid down by the Icon’s day procedure centres, clinics and affiliated hospitals, be considerate to and respect the rights of other patients and medical/allied health personnel.
  6. Whenever there is any matter concerning their treatment which they do not understand, patients have the responsibility to ask their doctors or medical personnel providing services to them for adequate explanation.
  7. Patients should immediately report any change in their medical condition to their doctors or medical personnel.

References

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