Patient Rights & Responsibilities

Why this is written down

A patient in a hospital is at a disadvantage. They are unwell, they are frightened, they usually do not know the vocabulary, and they are being asked to make decisions quickly. In that position it is easy to accept whatever is said and to feel that asking questions is impolite.

It is not impolite. The rights below are not a courtesy the hospital extends when it has time; they are the conditions under which good medicine is practised. A patient who understands the plan follows it better, notices when something is wrong sooner, and recovers more reliably.

This applies whatever the patient's income, caste, religion, gender or language. It applies equally to a private room and to a general ward bed.

Your rights as a patient at SIMS

• To receive care without discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, gender, age, disability, language, income or HIV status
• To be treated with dignity and courtesy, and to have your modesty respected during examination, with a chaperone present when you ask for one
• To know the name and qualification of the consultant primarily responsible for your care, and to speak to that consultant
• To have your condition, the proposed treatment, the expected benefit, the risks and the alternatives explained in a language you understand
• To give or refuse informed consent for any procedure, anaesthesia, transfusion or high-risk intervention, and to withdraw consent at any point
• To refuse treatment altogether, after being told what the consequences of refusal are likely to be
• To seek a second opinion, inside or outside this hospital, without your care here being affected in any way
• To confidentiality of your medical information, which will not be disclosed to anyone without your authorisation except where the law requires it
• To privacy during examination, discussion and treatment, and to be free from being photographed or filmed without consent
• To an estimate of the likely cost before a planned admission or procedure, and to an itemised bill
• To access your medical records and obtain copies on request through the records process
• To know if any treatment being proposed is part of research, and to decline participation without any effect on your care
• To be protected from physical abuse, neglect and unnecessary restraint
• To pain relief appropriate to your condition, and to care that is compassionate at the end of life
• To complain without fear of the complaint affecting your treatment, and to receive an answer

Your responsibilities as a patient or attendant

These are not conditions attached to your rights. They are the things only you can do, and without which the treating team is working half blind.

• Give an accurate and complete history, including old illnesses, past surgery, allergies and every medicine being taken — including anything bought over the counter and any ayurvedic or herbal preparation
• Tell us about alcohol, tobacco and any other substance use; this changes anaesthetic and medicine decisions and is not recorded to judge you
• Follow the agreed treatment plan, take medicines as prescribed, and tell the treating team if you have decided not to
• Attend follow-up appointments and bring the reports that were asked for
• Treat doctors, nurses, technicians, housekeeping and security staff with courtesy; abuse and violence towards healthcare staff is a criminal offence and will be reported
• Respect other patients — their privacy, their rest and their right to a quiet ward at night
• Observe visiting arrangements, attendant limits and infection-control rules, including hand hygiene
• Settle hospital dues in accordance with the terms agreed at admission
• Take responsibility for personal belongings and valuables brought into the hospital
• Do not smoke or consume tobacco or alcohol anywhere on the campus
• Give accurate information for the hospital record and for insurance claims

Consent, in practice

Consent is a conversation, not a signature. Before a procedure, the doctor should tell you what is proposed, why, what it is expected to achieve, what can go wrong and how likely that is, what the alternatives are including doing nothing, and who will actually perform it. If any of that has not been said, ask before you sign.

Consent should be taken in a language the patient or the authorised attendant follows. If a form is in English and the family reads Telugu or Kannada, ask for it to be explained and for that explanation to be recorded. A signature obtained on a document nobody understood is not consent.

Where the patient is unconscious, a minor, or otherwise unable to decide, consent is taken from the authorised representative. In a genuine life-threatening emergency, treatment necessary to save life is given without waiting for consent — and the family is informed as soon as it is practicable.

Exercising your rights

Each of these is a normal request and is handled through a defined process.

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