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Rights and Responsibilities
As a patient in Canada, you have both rights and responsibilities. It is important to understand them.
Patient Rights
As a patient you have the right to:
- Be told about your illness, diagnosis, and treatment in a way that you understand
- Ask questions, express concerns, and get answers in a way that you understand
- Make decisions about your care and treatment and change those decisions at any time, even if you signed consent forms (agreements)
- Accept or refuse any treatment based on the possible risks, benefits, and alternatives, unless you are deemed incompetent (unable to make decisions), as long as your decision will not harm others (for example, some contagious diseases)
- Accept or refuse treatment and have that decision respected even if you later become unable to make decisions
- Be told if a treatment is experimental, as well as its possible risks and benefits
- Refuse experimental treatment and still get the standard care and treatment for your illness
- Refuse to participate in (be part of) research or teaching procedures, including examinations or treatment by medical students in teaching hospitals
- Choose your doctor, if that doctor agrees to treat you (just as you don’t have to accept treatment from a particular doctor, doctors don’t have to accept particular patients)
- Know which doctor is in charge of your treatment and know your healthcare team
- Expect that members of your healthcare team will consult (talk) with each other about your treatment, so you can get good care
- Choose a decision maker (called an attorney) for personal care. This person is someone you have authorized (allowed) to make decisions about your healthcare, if you become unable to make or express your decisions yourself.
It is against Canadian human rights law to be refused healthcare because someone does not like the way you look or speak.
For more information on patient rights and responsibilities and what to do if you feel your rights have been violated, go to What are my rights as a patient? at Settlement.Org.
Patient Responsibilities
As a patient, it is your responsibility to:
- Treat your healthcare providers with respect and without discrimination
- Tell the truth about your medical history, your symptoms, and what you think about your illness
- Participate in (be part of) your care and treatment
- Accept responsibility for your decisions about treatment
- Follow your treatment to the best of your ability after you have agreed to it, unless you decide to change or stop the treatment
- Understand that some tests and treatments may be medically or ethically unnecessary or inappropriate, and that your doctor does not have to offer them
- Understand that your healthcare providers treat many people, and sometimes the needs of other patients and families may be urgent
- Be responsible for medical expenses not covered by OHIP or private insurance.
For more information…
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