Patient Rights, Responsibilities & Health Care Decision Making
The following is an explanation of your rights while in this facility.
If you have any concerns about any of these rights, please call the Gunnison
Valley Health Grievance Hotline at 855-763-4531.
It is the right of a patient at Gunnison Valley Hospital to:
To be informed of visitation rights, including:
Right to receive visitors, according to the patient’s wishes and consent.
Right to withdraw or deny consent for visitors.
To be treated with dignity and respect.
To effective communication.
To have cultural and personal values, beliefs and preferences respected.
To personal privacy and privacy of heath information.
To pain management.
To religious or other spiritual services.
To access, request amendments to, and obtain information on disclosures
of health information.
To have a family member, a friend or another individual present for emotional
support during the patient’s stay.
To be free from discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, religion,
culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status,
sex, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.
To receive information in a manner that is understandable and tailored
to the patient’s age, language and ability to understand.
To receive information in a manner that meets the patient’s needs
when they are impaired by vision, speech, hearing or cognitive impairments.
To be involved in making decisions about care, treatment and services.
To have the patient’s physician promptly notified of the patient’s
hospital admission.
To refuse care, treatment and services and to receive information about
this in writing.
To have a surrogate decision maker if the patient is unable to make decisions
on their own. The surrogate decision maker has the right to refuse care,
treatment and services on the patient’s behalf.
To have family involved in decision making about care, treatment and services.
To receive information about the outcomes of the patient’s care,
treatment and services that is needed to participate in current and future
health care decisions.
To be informed about anticipated outcomes of care, treatment and services
that relate to sentinel events.
To give or withhold informed consent.
To give or withhold informed consent to produce or use recordings, films
or other images for purposes other than the patient’s care.
To receive relevant information when deciding whether to participate in
research, investigation or trials, including the following:
Explanation of the purpose of the research.
Expected duration of participation.
Clear description of the procedures involved in the research.
Statement of the potential benefits, risks, discomforts and side effects.
Alternative care, treatment and services available to the patient that
might prove advantageous.
To receive information about the individual(s) responsible for and providing
the patient’s care, treatment and services.
To be free from neglect, exploitation and verbal, mental, physical and
sexual abuse.
To have an environment that preserves dignity and contributes to positive
self-image.
To have complaints reviewed by the hospital without being subject to coercion,
discrimination, reprisal or unreasonable interruption of care.
To access protective and advocacy services.
To discuss with a physician any ethical issues that arise during the course of care.
To request access to the hospital’s Ethics Committee.
To receive information about advance directives.
To have advance directives respected and followed.
To have issues addressing autopsy and organ donation conducted in a sensitive manner.
To request and receive pastoral counseling.
To request and expect the hospital to arrange for the prompt and orderly
transfer of the patient’s care to others when the hospital cannot
meet the patient’s request or needs for care, treatment and services.
If you are unable to exercise these rights, your guardian or legally authorized
agent or representative may exercise on your behalf any of the rights
listed above. In certain circumstances, Federal or State laws or regulations
may impose certain limitations on your ability, or that of your guardian
or legally authorized agent or representative, to exercise the rights
listed above.
If an individual or family has a concern about care of safety at Gunnison
Valley Health or any of its satellite services, he or she is encouraged
to contact the Gunnison Valley Health Grievance Hotline at 855-763-4531.If the concern is not being satisfactorily resolved at the facility level,
a formal complaint can be filed with the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment (CDPHE) by calling toll free 800-886-7675. You
may also contact The Joint Commission regarding your quality or safety
concern. For more information about The Joint Commission and its standards
for hospitals, visit their website at www.jointcommission.org.
Patient Responsibilities
It is your responsibility to:
To provide information that facilitates care, treatment and services.
To ask questions or acknowledge when the patient does not understand the
treatment course or care decisions.
To follow instructions, policies, rules and regulations that support quality
care and a safe environment.
To be considerate and respectful when interacting with staff.
To maintain civil language and conduct.
To meet financial commitments to the hospital.
To provide accurate and complete information about health-related matters.
To take an active role in making decisions about care, treatment and services
by doing the following:
Discussing condition and treatment with the practitioner.
Reporting any changes to condition.
Providing advance directive and/or expressing wishes regarding use of life support.
To cooperate with hospital staff who provide care.
To ask questions if plans or direction of care are not clearly understood.
To follow and respect the hospital’s rules and regulations about
patient care and conduct.
To be considerate of the rights of other patients and staff.
To follow guidelines about use of cameras.
To accept responsibility for actions if treatment is refused or practitioner
instructions are not followed.
To provide the hospital with complete information to process insurance claims.
To arrange to pay bills within an acceptable time period.
To be responsible for belongings and not bring unnecessary items or valuables
to the hospital.
To inform staff of all information that may affect care and safety.
THIS IS A NON-SMOKING HEALTHCARE FACILITY.
If you do smoke and are interested in quitting, we encourage you to contact
Colorado Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8869) or
coquitline.org for free smoking cessation confidential counseling.
Advance Directives Policy
Gunnison Valley Health recognizes that individuals have the right to make
health care decisions. They have the right to accept or refuse treatment
and the right to formulate advance directives. We recognize our responsibility
to inform patients of these rights.
All adult patients will be asked if they have an advance directive, and
the answer will be entered in the medical record. If a patient has an
advance directive, a copy of that directive will be requested for the
patient’s medical record. We do not condition the provision of care
or otherwise discriminate against an individual based on whether or not
the individual has an advance directive.
If you would like further information, have questions or would like an
advance directive document, please contact case management at 970-641-7209.
Regarding Healthcare Decisions
Federal law now directs that at any time you are admitted to a hospital
that receives Medicare or Medicaid funds, you must be told about the state’s
laws concerning your right to make health care decisions. This requirement
applies to all adult patients no matter what the medical condition.
Health care decisions are very important and require careful thought. You
may wish to consult your doctor, your family, your friends and your attorney.
You have the right to consent to (accept) or refuse any medical care or
treatment unless care has been ordered by a court. In an emergency, your
consent is assumed if you do not or cannot indicate a contrary decision.
You, your legal guardian, your legal agent or a proxy decision-maker selected
in accordance with Colorado law can make health care decisions for you.
Colorado has no law automatically allowing the family member closest to
you to be a “surrogate” or proxy decision maker for you.
Because a situation may arise in which you are not conscious or able to
make specific health care decisions for yourself, you may want to make
your health care wishes and decisions known in advance. You can do this
by executing documents called advance medical directives; there are basically
three types:
LIVING WILL: A living will is a witnessed legal document that tells the
doctor you don’t want to be put on a life support machine when it
won’t help you get any better. This advanced directive is voluntarily
executed by a person according to the law. A living will goes into effect
when you are very sick and not able to communicate your wishes yourself
(lack of capacity) AND when you are certified by an examining doctor to
have a terminal condition or be in a persistent vegetative state. You
can cancel your living will at any time. You can do so orally, in writing
or by destroying the document. If you cancel your living will, tell your
family, your doctor and anyone who has a copy of it that it has been canceled.
Please bring a copy of your living will with you to the hospital. It will
become part of your medical record.
DURABLE MEDICAL POWER OF ATTORNEY: A durable medical power of attorney
is a legal document authorizing another person who is at least 18 years
old to make health care decisions for you if you become temporarily or
permanently unable to make them for yourself. The person you name becomes
your agent for this specific purpose only. A durable medical power of
attorney can authorize any type of health care decisions and is not limited
to those situations involving a terminal condition. The document may give
broad authority or specific directions. Such a document should be notarized.
There is no specific form provided by the Colorado Patient Autonomy Act.
The durable medical power of attorney legal document must be in the medical
record for these decisions to be exercised.
CPR DIRECTIVE: A CPR directive is a document telling ambulance or other
emergency medical personnel, your doctor or any health care facility to
which you may be admitted not to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation
– that is, not to take measures to support or restore your heart
or breathing functions in the event those functions become difficult or
stop. A CPR directive requires a doctor’s signature; forms approved
by the Colorado Board of Health are available through physician’s offices.
Proxy Decision Makers
If you execute no advance directive, appoint no legal guardian and are
unable to communicate your wishes, medical decisions may be made for you
by a person called a proxy decision-maker who is selected by agreement
of a group of “interested persons,” usually consisting of
your available family members. If the group cannot agree on a proxy decision-maker
for you, any one of the interested persons may petition a court to appoint
a guardian.
In Summary
No living will, durable power of attorney or a CPR directive will take
away your right to make your own health care decisions so long as you
are not able to do so. If you have drawn up one or more of these advance
directives, it is your responsibility to make them available for inclusion
in your medical record.
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