Prior to any treatment or procedure, patients are advised to consult their doctors about the risks and benefits. You should be fully aware of the possibility of complications that might lead to extra medical fee or charges.

Detailed "Patients' Rights and Responsibilities" are as follows:


Patients' Rights

The right to know

1. Patients have the right to know the medical fees or charges in advance, and to examine and be given explanation on their bill, including hospital's charges and doctors' fees.
2. Patients have the right to know the details of their illness, including diagnosis, progress, investigations, method, plan and effectiveness of treatment.
3. Patients have the right to know the name, dosage, method of administration, and side effects of the prescribed medications.
4. Patients have the right to know the purposes, common complications and all necessary information of any treatment procedures or investigations, and whether there are other alternative methods before giving consent to these procedures.
5. Patients have the right to obtain information concerning their illness. They are entitled to request a medical report from their attending doctor(s) or a copy of the medical record from HKSH Medical Group but will be required to pay respective processing charges. Patients should ask about the payable charges in advance.
6. Patients have the right to know the name and rank of the staff providing services.
7. Patients have the right to know the qualifications of the medical practitioner providing the service.
8. Patients have the right to know any public health measures taken by HKSH Medical Group and to take appropriate measures to protect their health.

The right to decide

1. Patients have the right to consult more than one doctor before giving consent for any treatment.
2. Patients have the right to decide whether to accept or refuse any medical advice from their doctors. If patients decide to refuse the recommendations from their doctors, they should understand the consequences of their decision and be responsible for any possible outcome.
3. Patients have the right to decide whether or not to participate in medical research.
4. Patients have the right to refuse experimentation or participation in teaching programmes.

The right to privacy and confidentiality

1. Patients are entitled to privacy and confidentiality regarding their medical information.
2. Unless with patients' prior consent for disclosure, any information collected during the management of their illness should be kept confidential, as far as practicable, by all medical personnel. However, sometimes in order to facilitate the management of illness, doctors may have to disclose health information to other relevant medical personnel.
3. Under special circumstances, when patients are suspected to be involved in illegal activities, doctors may also disclose such information to relevant authorities.

The right to complain
Patients should be made to gain a good understanding of their illness and the treatment. If they are dissatisfied with their medical care, they can make a complaint to the medical personnel or hospital administration and have the right to be informed about the procedures for making complaints and the process of managing and responding to their complaints.

The right to be respected
Patients' dignity, culture and religious belief should be respected. All services must be delivered without discrimination on the basis of age, sex, religion, ethnicity and disability of the patient.


Patients' Responsibilities

1. Patients should tell their doctors and medical personnel providing services to them all about their present illness, past medical history and other relevant information, including but not limited to home medication they intend to bring in for personal use.
2. Patients should cooperate with the medical/allied health personnel on the agreed treatment plans or procedures.
3. Patients should not ask the medical personnel to provide untrue medical information or to issue false receipts, sick leave certificates or medical reports.
4. Patients have the responsibility to settle all charges on time and before discharge from the HKSH Medical Group.
5. Patients should abide by the rules laid down by the HKSH Medical Group, be considerate to and respect the rights of other patients and medical/allied health personnel.
6. Whenever there is any matter concerning their treatment which they do not understand, patients have the responsibility to ask their doctors or medical personnel providing services to them for adequate explanation.
7. Patients should immediately report any change in their medical condition to their doctors or medical personnel.