Patient Rights & Responsibilities
MMC wants you to clearly and easily understand your rights as a patient.
We consider patients to be companions in their own hospital care. When patients are informed, they can more effectively participate in treatment decisions and communicate openly with their doctors and other health professionals.
As a patient at MMC, you have rights and responsibilities. Knowing your rights and responsibilities can help you, and the healthcare professionals work better as a team. This will, in turn, improve the care you receive. If you are under the age of 18, your rights and responsibilities will be carried out by your parents or guardian.
Patient Rights
The hospital will sensibly respond to requests and needs for treatment or service within its ability, stated mission, and applicable laws and regulations. No patient will be denied suitable hospital care based on race, religion, cultural variables, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, newborn status, disability, or payment source.
Patients will be treated respectfully and with awareness of their individuality and personal needs, including privacy, effective pain management, and psychosocial, spiritual, and cultural differences.
The patient’s medical record and all computerized medical information are kept confidential according to the constraints of state and federal laws. The patient or any individual authorized by law will have access to the patient’s medical record.
Each patient may know who has overall responsibility for his/her care. Each patient or any individual authorized by law will receive information about the patient’s ailment, course of treatment, and prognosis for recovery in understandable terms for the patient from the appropriate person at MMC.
Patients can make health care and ethical decisions in conjunction with their health team members. They may also assign representatives to be associated with their care. Excluding emergencies, consent for treatment will be obtained from patients or those legally authorized to act for them before participating in research and before any diagnostic and/or surgical procedures are done. Any patient may refuse treatment to the extent allowable by law and will be educated about the medical consequences of the refusal of said treatment.
Excluding emergencies, the patient may not be transported to another facility without a full explanation for the transfer, coverage for continuing care, and acceptance by the receiving organization. Patients may view their billing statements and receive an explanation as needed. Upon request, each patient may receive information about financial assistance accessible through MMC.
Patients have the right to designate their visitors and individuals involved in their care.
Each patient may make an advance directive and appoint an authorized agent to make health care decisions on their behalf as permitted by California law and MMC’s Advance Directives policy.
Patient Responibilities
Patients or their legally authorized representatives are accountable for providing complete and accurate medical data and cooperating in the patient’s treatment.
This includes:
- Communicating to caregivers the understanding of the plan of care and related expectations;
- Following the care plan recommended by physicians;
- Following instructions of nurses and other caregivers or accepting the consequences of refusal;
- Promptly reporting any unexpected changes in illness to the designated health care providers.
Patients and their legally authorized representatives are accountable for observing MMC policies, rules, and regulations, together with rules for visitors, noise control, and smoking. All are expected to be considerate of other patients, visitors, staff, and property.
Patients and their legally authorized representatives are expected to collaborate with MMC when making appropriate arrangements for payment of hospital expenses for care and treatment, including providing all essential information and signing all necessary documents.
Visitor Resources
Welcome
We want to ensure that your experience at MMC is positive from beginning to end. That means making it easy for you and your loved one to get all the instruction needed for their stay. In this section, you’ll find valuable guest information.
Cellphones
We know there are many reasons why family and friends may need to use their cellular phones while visiting MMC. Because the signals from some phones present a potential danger of interference with some medical tools, we strongly discourage the use of cell phones from patient rooms and ask that they are turned off while in rooms. Visitors are permitted to make calls on cell phones from corridors or lobbies.
Smoking
MMC is a non-smoking facility. Smoking is not allowed.
Visitation safety guidelines
For the comfort and well-being of all our patients, we ask that guests follow these guidelines:
- Family and friends do not visit if they are ill with a transmittable disease, such as a cold or the flu
- A responsible adult supervises visiting children at all times
- No animals are allowed in the nursing units, with the exception of seeing-eye dogs
- Flowers for patients are appreciated except in the ER or any other place where they may promote infection. Latex balloons may pose a risk to people with latex allergies and present a potential choking hazard to children —only Mylar balloons are permitted in the medical center.
VISITING HOURS
- Daily 8am – 10p
Visitors are crucial to the course of healing and we encourage family and friends to visit. Visiting hours may be modified to meet the patient’s needs.
CONTACT PATIENTS
Please call (530) 708-8811 for the condition of a particular patient.
MMC can only provide certain patient info over the phone. In some cases, the patient or the patient’s family may ask that such information is not released.