Patient Rights

Providing health services should have the following features:
1-1) Suitable for the dignity of human beings and with having respect for the cultural and religious values and beliefs;
1-2) Based on honesty and justice and with politeness and kindness;
1-3) Devoid of any form of discrimination such as tribal, cultural, religious, gender and disease-related discrimination;
1-4) Based on updated knowledge;
1-5) Based on the superiority of patient interests;
1-6) Based on justice and treatment priorities of the patients in the distribution of health resources;
1-7) Based on the coordination of health care principles including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation;
1-8) Accompanied by supplying all of the basic welfare facilities and away from causing pain, affliction and unnecessary limitations;
1-9) Pay particular attention to vulnerable groups in the society such as children, pregnant women, elderly persons, prisoners, mentally or physically disabled persons and orphans;
1-10) Be provided in the shortest possible time and respect the time of the patient;
1-11) Consider some variables such as language, age, and gender of the caretakers;
1-12) The emergency cares should be provided without regard to the costs and the non-emergency (elective) cares should be provided according to official regulations;
1-13) If providing some of the health services is not possible in a center, the patient should be transferred to a more equipped center after receiving the emergency cares;
1-14) In the final stages of life when the course of the disease is irreversible and death of the patient is imminent, the health services should aim at maintaining his/her comfort. The comfort means decreasing the pain and suffering of the patient and paying attention to his/her mental, social, spiritual and emotional needs at the time of dying. The dying patient has the right to accompany the person who wants to in the final moment of his life;

2-1) The content of the information should include the following:
2-1-1) The contents of the charter of patient rights at the time of admission;
2-1-2) Predictable hospital regulations and fees, including medical and non-medical services, insurance policies and the introduction of supportive systems at the time of admission;
2-1-3) The name, responsibility and professional rank of the members of the medical team who are responsible for providing care, including doctor, nurse and student, and their professional relationship with each other;
2-1-4) Diagnostic and therapeutic methods and the strengths and weaknesses of each method and its possible complications, the diagnosis, prognosis and complications of the disease, as well as all the information affecting the patient's decision-making process;
2-1-5) How to access to the attending doctor and the main members of the medical team during treatment;
2-1-6) All of the research activities;
2-2) Providing information should be as follows:
2-2-1) The information should be provided at the appropriate time and proportional to the patient's circumstances, including anxiety and pain, and his personal characteristics, including language, education, and comprehension power, unless:
•    the delay in the initiation of treatment due to providing the information cause harm to the patient. (In this case, the information should be provided at the earliest appropriate time after performing the necessary actions);
•    despite the patient’s awareness of having the right to receive information, he/she refuses to do so, in which case the patient’s preference should be respected unless his/her unawareness exposes him/her or others to serious risk;
2-2-2) The patient can access to all of the data entered in his/her medical record and receive a copy of them and request for correction of the errors contained in the record;

3-1) The patient’s choosing and decision-making is limited to the following issues:
3-1-1) Choosing the attending doctor and the health services provider center within the framework of the regulations;
3-1-2) Choosing the second doctor as the consultant and consulting with him/her;
3-1-3) Deciding to participate in any research, ensuring that it does not affect the continuity and quality of receiving the health services;
3-1-4) Accepting or refusing the suggested treatments after being informed about their benefits and possible complications and consequences of refusal of them, except in cases of suicide or cases in which refusal of treatment exposes someone else to serious risk;
3-1-5) When the patient has the capacity of decision-making, she/he can announce her/his decision about the future possible circumstances in which she/he may not be able to make a decision. Thus her/his previous recorded idea can be applied as a guide for the health care providers and the substitute decision-maker to perform medical procedures observing the legal requirements;

3-2) The conditions for choosing and decision-making consist of the following items:
3-2-1) The patient’s choosing and decision-making process should be free and informed and based on receiving enough and complete information;
3-2-2) After providing the information, the patient should have enough time to choose and make decision;

4-1) Observing the principle of confidentiality about all of the information regarding the patient is obligatory unless cases that have been excepted by law;
4-2) The patient’s privacy should be respected during all the stages of medical care including diagnostic and therapeutic stages. To this end, it is mandatory to provide all the necessary facilities to guarantee the patient’s privacy;
4-3) Only the patient, the treatment team, the people authorized by the patient and those who are permitted by law can have access to the information.
4-4) The patient has the right to be accompanied by his/her reliable person during the diagnostic stages including the physical examinations. A child has the right to be accompanied by one of his/her parents during treatment stages unless this is against the medical necessities.

5-1) Each patient who claims the violation of his/her rights that have mentioned in this charter has the right to complain to authorized officials without disruption in the receiving health services;
5-2) The patient has the right to be informed of the process and results of his/her complaint;
5-3) The damage resulting from the error of health services providers should be compensated as soon as possible according to the regulations after being investigated and proved.
If the patient, for any reason, lacks the capacity of decision-making, the substitute legal decision-maker is responsible for supervision of implementing the contents of this charter.