Consumers' Rights and Responsibilities

In the 1970's MCA lobbied for the adoption of a charter of  patients' rights and responsibilities. As the consumer YOU are the person who is really responsible for making decisions about your own health care but it has proved very difficult in practice for consumers to get needed information.  The Charter that follows here was designed by MCA in 1976-7 as a basis to help consumers obtain the relevant information and so make informed decisions:

These are already your Legal Rights in N.S.W.

1. Right to a clear, concise explanation in lay person's terms of your condition, problems or disease.
2. Right to a clear, concise explanation in lay person's terms of all proposed procedures and possible alternatives. The explanation should include information about the risk of any side-effects, problems relating to the recuperation and possibility of success, risk of death and whether such treatments are of an experimental nature.
3. Right to seek 'alternative health care' and to receive such care from any person competent to provide it. Alternative health care includes acupuncture, chiropractic, herbalism, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, naturopathy, osteopathy etc.
4. Right to obtain the professional opinions of anyone of your choice at any stage of the health care programme. You also have the right to know the identity, professional status and qualifications of those providing health services.
5. Right to refuse any specific treatment, drug, examination or other health care procedure. You must not be subjected to procedures or treatments without your competent and understanding voluntary consent.
6. Right to change your mind and refuse treatments even if you have previously agreed to them. You should think carefully before you change your mind.
7. Right, even without asking, to be informed about and to refuse to participate in any research and/or experimental procedure which uses you.
8. Right to have your case history kept confidential, except where you consent to have such information divulged or where it is required by law to be divulged.
9. Right to receive itemised details of the total, final account for services rendered, regardless of the source of payment.
10. Right to leave the health care facility regardless of your physical condition or financial status. You nay be requested to sign a release, stating that you are leaving against the medical judgement of your doctor or hospital but there is no legal compulsion to sign it. Exceptions to the right to discharge yourself  may occur if an infectious disease has been diagnosed of if your have been certified mentally ill.
11. Right to compensation for injuries or illness negligently incurred in health care facilities or aggravated by the health therapist.
12. Right to expect adequate instructions about how to look after yourself when you are discharged from hospital.
13. Right to refuse examination, treatment, or observation by, or in the presence of, medical students. You may also refuse to see an outsider who wishes to visit you. (Exceptions may occur when police are investigating criminal cases. In this instance, permission to interview you should have been obtained from the resident medical officer.)

(Today you will find that the MCA charter has been adopted by many health care establishments and the NSW Health Department issues a version of it.)

If You Are In Need Of Health Care, You Should In Your own Interest:

1. Seek information as to your rights and see that your rights are satisfactorily applied.
2. Ask questions to ensure that you have understood the purpose of all tests, treatments or other  procedures, the reason for them and possible alternatives before agreeing to them.
3. Take responsibility for postponing, terminating or continuing part or all of the proposed health care programme, including operations. You should insist on explanations until you feel suitably informed and should consult with all relevant persons before reaching a decision.
4. Know your own and your family's medical history.
5. Keep appointments or inform those concerned of your intention not to do so.
6. Comply with treatments or inform the therapist of your intention not to do so.
7. Accept the consequences of your own informed decisions and not change your mind without good reason.

Making The Most Of  Your Appointment:

So that you are able to make informed decisions about your health, it is important to communicate with your health care provider in an effective way. These points may help you to do so.

• Before keeping your appointment, write down all the information you think may be relevant to your condition.
• Take a pen and paper with you and write down details about any treatment the health care provider wishes you to follow. Note any advice given or alternatives available and ask for any words that you have difficulty with to be spelled out. Later you will be more able to reach an informed decision if you have all the facts clear before you.
• Remember you are paying for the time you are with the health care provider, so do not waste time with irrelevancies.
• If you feel you require a second opinion discuss this with the health care provider. Remember that you are entitled to obtain whatever and whomsoevers' opinion you wish.
• If you are dissatisfied with the treatment you are receiving , it is important to discuss this with your therapist.
• If you cannot communicate with the practitioner, it would be in your interest to find a practitioner with who you can communicate. Failure to communicate will only compound the health problems you have.
• Do not have unreasonable expectations about what a health care practitioner can do for you. A great deal of your health and fitness is in your own hands and you must take responsibility for your own well being.

A Time for Personal Action

If you are not happy with the status quo, believe that individual consumers do matter, and that the health system should take account of  injuries due to negligence, then join us in trying to get a better deal for consumers and thus safer and higher quality medical services and delivery standards for all Australians.