Patient Bill of Rights

Patient Rights and Responsibilities

The Mission of Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC is to provide high quality care for the body, mind, and spirit of every person we serve. As we carry out our Mission, Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC respects your rights and supports your responsibilities as a patient. In turn, we ask you to respect the rights of other patients and the people who care for you. We also ask you to take responsibility for and play an active role in your care. We will honor your rights and help you with your responsibilities as much as we can, and we will let you know if we cannot because of concerns for your safety or the safety of others, because of special needs related to your medical care, or because of any other legal or ethical reasons. We will let you know if that is the case. Please talk with your doctors and healthcare team if you have questions about your rights and responsibilities.

Your Rights as an Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC Care Patient

Dignity and Respect

You have the right:

To be treated in a way that respects your dignity as a person and respects your values, beliefs, and preferences for your healthcare.
To receive healthcare that respects your cultural, spiritual, and religious needs.
To have your personal items with you, if you would like. Contact a member of your healthcare team if you would like your personal items placed in a secure location.
To be treated without discrimination, no matter what your diagnosis, age, religion, race, national origin, creed, color, gender, marital status, sexual preference, disability, veteran’s status, or source of payment. Hospitals are not required to provide uncompensated or full care and treatment unless otherwise required by law.

Safety and Comfort

You have the right:

To receive treatment for your pain.
To receive your healthcare in a safe and secure environment.
To be free from any kind of restraint or seclusion that is not medically necessary.
To receive your healthcare from competent personnel in a safe environment free from mental, physical, sexual, or verbal abuse, harassment, neglect, and exploitation.
To receive information about patient advocacy services such as domestic violence resources, adult or child protective services programs, and guardianship and conservatorship resources.

Privacy and Confidentiality

You have the right:

To access information contained in your medical record within a reasonable timeframe when requested, subject to limited circumstances when the attending physician determines it would be harmful to disclose the information to you for therapeutic reasons.
To have your privacy protected during your care.
To make private telephone calls and to have private conversations with your doctors, other healthcare team members, and with your visitors.
To have your medical records and personal healthcare information kept confidential as set forth in the notice of privacy practices.
To decide who should or should not receive information and be involved in discussions about your healthcare.

Information and Communication

You have the right:

To be informed of your patient rights during the admission process.
To ask questions and receive information about your healthcare.
To receive information about care at the end of life.
To look at the information in your medical record.
To receive healthcare information in a way that you can understand.
To we will arrange for medically-trained Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC interpreters to help you at no cost to you.
To know the names and professional status of your doctors and other healthcare team members.
To ask for information about your bill, including an itemized explanation of charges.
To have your doctor and your personal contact called if you are admitted to the hospital.
To refuse treatment and to be informed of the medical consequences of refusing treatment.

Making Decisions About Your Healthcare

You have the right:

To make informed decisions about your healthcare and to receive information necessary to make decisions.
To be informed in advance about care and treatment and of any change.
To be given information about your healthcare including your diagnosis, prognosis, care options, risks and benefits of treatments, expected and unexpected outcomes of treatments, and discharge and transfer plans.
To decide which healthcare treatment options you do or do not want to accept.
To seek the opinion of additional doctors or healthcare providers. You may need to pay for these costs.
To transfer your care to another doctor or healthcare provider.
To choose whether or not to participate in medical research to test new medications or treatments
To name someone to make decisions on your behalf when you are physically or mentally unable to make them yourself or if you are not of legal age according to state law. This person is called your “surrogate” decision maker.
- Your surrogate may be your Attorney-in-Fact named in your Advance Directives documents, your guardian, your closest next-of-kin, or a court-appointed advocate.
- Your surrogate has the responsibility to think about your wishes, values, and beliefs and to make decisions as you would make them if you were able.
- According to state law, you are of legal age when you are 18 years old in Iowa, 19 years old in Nebraska, or have become an emancipated minor.
To participate in the develpment and implementation of a plan of care and any changes.
To be free from chemical and physical restraints that arenot medically necessary.

Advance Directives and Organ, Tissue, and Eye Donation

You have the right:

To have your Advance Directives forms placed in your medical record.
To ask for written information about completing Advance Directives forms (such as a Living Will or Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare).
To complete or update Advance Directives forms to reflect your current healthcare wishes.
To have your wishes as stated in your Advance Directives forms honored by your doctors and healthcare team or to be notified by your doctors and healthcare team about why they cannot honor your wishes.
To have your wishes about organ, tissue, and eye donation honored

Voicing Your Concerns

You have the right:

To voice complaints and file grievances without discrimination or reprisal and have those complaints and grievances addressed.
To report a formal grievance with Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC or with an outside agency. – Formal grievances can be reported by talking with your healthcare team or with Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC management, by calling a Nebraska Spine Hospital LLC Patient Action Line, or by contacting an outside agency.