Ethics, Concerns and Advance Directives
Patient Responsibility | Patient Rights | Advance Directives | Patient Concerns | HIPAA
Americans with Disabilities Act | Hearing & Sight Impaired Patients | Interpreters | Tissue Donation
We ask that you follow a few rules while you are with us. These rules were made for your safety; following them can help you and other patients get well more quickly. Please show respect for
others by:
• Respecting privacy
• Limiting the number of visitors you have
• Having visitors only during visiting hours
• Keeping noise low, including voices, TV, radio and video games
• Not bothering other people’s personal things, such as clothes, toys, games and radios
• Taking care of Medical Center property
• Using only medications that your physicians say you should
• Leaving your valuables at home
• Not bringing a weapon to the Medical Center
• Not using foul or abusive language
• Not hitting or threatening another patient, family member or staff member
• Not smoking, drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs
As an adult patient, you have the right to:
• Care that is considerate and respectful of your values, beliefs, and cultural practices
• Be treated with respect and dignity
• Be informed about and participate in decisions regarding your care
• Participate in ethical questions that arise in the course of care, including conflict resolution,
withholding resuscitation services, forgoing or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, and
participation in investigational studies
• Security, personal privacy, and confidentiality of information
• Designate a decision maker in case you are incapable of understanding a treatment or procedure,
or are unable to communicate
• Know what facility rules and regulations apply to your conduct as a patient
• Be free from restraints and seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline,
convenience or retaliation by staff
• Expect emergency procedures to be implemented without unnecessary delay
• Appropriate assessment and management of pain;
• Be given the names, upon request, of the attending physician, and the names and functions
of other persons having direct contact during your care
• Safe, good quality and high professional standards that are continually maintained and reviewed
• Full information, in layman’s terms, concerning diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and outcomes
• Informed consent (general nature, risks, and alternatives) prior to the start of any procedure
or treatment
• Refuse any drug, treatment, or procedure
• Assistance in obtaining consultation with another physician at your request and expense
• Medical and nursing services without discrimination based upon race, color, religion, sex,
sexual preference, national origin, or source of payment
• Access to an interpreter, when possible, if you do not speak English
• Right to request your medical records
• Examine your bill and receive an explanation of the items on the bill if requested
• Leave the hospital, even against your physician’s advice
• Expect reasonable continuity of care after discharge
• A safe hospital environment
• Speak to your physician, nurse, or to contact the Nurse Manager or Patient Liaison
Pediatric patients have the following additional rights:
• To be respected as a unique individual;
• To have the normal physical, physiological, and social needs of a growing child met;
• To be allowed play, educational and social activities needed by all children;
• To be given information in an easy to understand way about what to expect before, during, and
following a treatment or procedure;
• To be given compassionate support in dealing with a treatment or procedure; and
• To allow the child and the family to participate in decisions affecting the child’s medical treatment.
You have the right to say yes or no to treatments recommended by your physician. If you want to control decisions about your healthcare even if you become unable to express them yourself, you need an Advance Directive. North Carolina has several ways for you to make a formal advance directive. These options include a Living Will, a healthcare Power of Attorney, and an Instruction for Mental Health Treatment.
A Living Will is a legal document that tells others that you want to die a natural death if you are terminally ill, incurably sick, or in a persistent vegetative state from which you will not recover. In a living will, you can direct your physician not to use heroic treatments or extraordinary measures that would delay your death, such as breathing machines (respirators/ventilators), or to stop such treatments if they have been started. You can also direct your physician not to begin or to stop giving you food and water through a tube (artificial nutrition or hydration).
A Healthcare Power of Attorney is given to a person you name to make medical decisions for you if you later become unable to make decisions for yourself. This person is called your “healthcare agent.” In a legal document you will name the agent of your choice. You can also express what medical treatments you would not want. Your healthcare agent then knows what choices you would make.
An Advance Instruction for Mental Health Treatment is a legal document that tells physicians and healthcare providers what mental health treatments you would and would not want, if you later become unable to decide yourself. You may also choose someone to make these decisions for you when you are unable to make them yourself.
Our Patient and Family Services staff can offer additional information about advance directives. You can contact Patient and Family Services at extension 4231.
We are always interested in knowing how well you think we are doing in providing your care while you are here. We want to know if you have any questions or concerns. BCMC has a complaint/grievance process to address any concerns or issues you might have about the service provided to you. Please notify your nurse or contact the Staff Services Department at extension 4202 or email gfloyd@brhealthsystem.org if you have a complaint, grievance or concern you would like to share with us.
You have the right to file a grievance directly with the North Carolina Department of Health Services Regulations (DHSR). You may call them at 1-800-624-3004 (NC Residents only) or 1-919-855-4500 (Local & outside NC) or mail your information to 2711 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-2706 even if you do not use our process.
If you are a Medicare beneficiary, you have the right to file a quality of care complaint by calling The Carolina’s Center for Medical Excellence (a quality improvement corporation,) at 800-628-2650. If you need help with this process, please call the Staff Services Department at 252-975-4202.
You may also contact The Joint Commission directly at 1-800-994-6610.
HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Even before HIPAA, we at Beaufort County Medical Center have always strived to protect patient identifiable information and the security of that information. If you feel we have failed to protect your privacy, please contact our HIPAA privacy officer at 252-975-4202.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Beaufort County Medical Center does not discriminate nor deny treatment or employment on the basis of race, gender, color, national origin, religion, disability or age. BCMC supports and complies with all aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you need special aids to participate in programs and services, please notify a nurse or staff member.
Hearing and Sight Impaired Patients
If you have trouble hearing or seeing, tell a nurse and she or he will discuss the best method of communication with you. While you are a patient, written messages, sign language, an oral interpreter, TDDs (telecommunication device for the deaf), telephone amplifiers, closed caption decoder system, qualified readers, and large print materials are available.
Beaufort County Medical Center offers free interpreting services to its patients who do not speak English. Contact your nurse for more information.
Becoming an organ donor allows you to give the gift of life. A kidney or heart transplant can save a life. A corneal transplant can return sight to a blind person. A skin transplant can help a burn victim recover and greatly reduce their suffering. If you would like more information on becoming an organ donor, call Carolina Donor Services at 1-800-252-2672.
During admission, you will be asked if you have an organ donor card and/or designation on your driver’s license. If you do not, but are interested, please discuss with your healthcare provider.
Families of patients who have died may be asked to consider donating organs or tissue. Neither the patient nor the family will incur costs associated with organ and tissue donations. If you decide to become an organ/tissue donor or if you want more information, please notify your family physician or nurse.
Home | Site Map | Notice of Privacy Practices
Beaufort Regional Health System
628 East 12th Street, Washington, NC 27889