Your Rights and Responsibilities | Patients & Visitors | UC Davis Health

As a patient of UC Davis Medical Center, you have the right to:

• Exercise these rights without regard to sex, economic status, educational background, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, marital status, registered domestic partner status, citizenship, immigration status, or the source of payment for care.
• Considerate and courteous care and respect for your spiritual needs, beliefs and values.
• Request auxiliary aids and services at no cost to you, to communicate with us effectively if you are a person with disabilities, including access to qualified sign language interpreters and written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats). For language assistance, please contact Interpreting and Translation Services at 916-734-2321 (TTY: 916-734-7428).
• Request language assistance services if your primary language is not English, at no cost to you, including translated documents and oral interpretation. For language assistance, please contact Interpreting and Translation Services at 916-734-2321 (TTY: 916-734-7428).
• Have a family member or other representative of your choosing and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
• Know the name of the licensed health care practitioner acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure who has primary responsibility for coordinating your care, and the names and roles of others helping to care for you.
• Receive information about your current health status, course of treatment, prospects for recovery and outcomes in understandable terms.
• Participate actively in the decisions regarding your medical care.
• Receive as much information as you need about proposed treatments or procedures that will allow you to provide informed consent or to refuse a course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information will include procedure or treatment descriptions, medically significant risks involved in this treatment, alternate courses of treatment or non-treatment and their respective risks, and the name of the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment.
• Inquire about and discuss the ethics of your care, including resolution of conflicts, withholding resuscitative services and foregoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
• Request or refuse treatment; or leave the health facility against the advice of members of the medical staff, to the extent permitted by law.
• Reasonable responses to reasonable requests for service.
• Be advised if the hospital or your licensed health care practitioner acting within the scope of his or her professional licensure proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation affecting your care or treatment. You have the right to refuse to participate in such research projects. Your decision will not affect your right to receive care.
• Assessment and management of your pain, information about pain relief measures, and participation in pain-management decisions, including a request for or rejection of any or all options to relieve pain, including opiate medication when appropriate.
• Provide instructions through an advance directive about your care, including designating a decision-maker in the event you are unable to make your wishes known.
• Have all patients’ rights apply to the person who has legal responsibility to make decisions regarding medical care on your behalf.
• Personal privacy concerning your medical care program. This includes discreet examinations, consultations, case discussions and treatment.
• Be advised why certain persons are present and to ask visitors to leave during sensitive discussions or procedures.
• Have privacy curtains used in semi-private rooms.
• Confidential treatment of all communications and records pertaining to your care and stay in the hospital.
• Receive a written “Notice of Privacy Practices” that explains how your protected health information (PHI)* will be used and disclosed.
• Decide about and provide authorization before medical records are made available to anyone not directly concerned with your care, except as required or permitted by law.
• Access to information in your records within a reasonable timeframe, except as specified by law.
• A safe setting, free from all forms of abuse or harassment.
• You have the right to protective and advocacy services, including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.
• Treatment free from restraints or seclusion of any form used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff.
• Reasonable continuity of care and information about the time and location of your appointments, as well as the identity of persons providing your care, in advance.
• Be informed of continuing health care requirements after your hospital stay. Upon your request, a friend or family member may also be provided this information.
• Know which hospital rules and policies apply to your conduct while a patient.
• Designate visitors of your choosing, if you have decision-making capacity, whether or not the visitor is related by blood, marriage, or registered domestic partner status, unless:
  • No visitors are allowed because of your condition.
  • The health facility reasonably determines that the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of a patient, a member of the staff or other visitor to the health facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility.
  • You have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit. However, the health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitations, including restrictions upon the hours of visitation and number of visitors.
• Have your wishes considered, if you lack decision-making capability, for the purposes of determining who may visit. The method of consideration will be disclosed in the hospital policy on visitation. At a minimum, hospital staff will allow visitors living in your household.
• Examine and receive an explanation of your medical bill, regardless of the source of payment.
• Express concerns or complaints about your care without fear that the quality of your care or future access to care will be affected.
• Have all these rights observed by all hospital personnel.
• File a grievance with UC Davis Medical Center by calling Patient Relations at 916-734-9777 or by writing to:
  UC Davis Medical Center
  Patient Relations
  2315 Stockton Blvd.
  Sacramento, CA 95817
• File a grievance with the California Department of Public Health by calling 1-800-722-0432 or writing to:
  California Department of Public Health
  3901 Lennane Drive, Suite 210
  Sacramento, CA 95834
• File a civil rights grievance with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/smartscreen/main.jsf, or by calling 1-800-368-1019 or writing to the department at:
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  200 Independence Ave., SW
  Room 509F, HHH Building
  Washington, D.C. 20201
• Complaint forms are available at: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints/index.html (Note: the main menu on this page has links to pages about Filing with OCR and about Civil Rights).
• File a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), electronically through the DFEH portal available at https://ccrs.dfeh.ca.gov, or by calling 1-800-884-1684, or by writing to the department at:
  The Department of Fair Employment and Housing
  2218 Kausen Drive, Suite 100
  Elk Grove, CA 95758
  (Note: Effective July 1, 2022, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has been renamed to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) and the URL has been changed to https://calcivilrights.ca.gov. The new URL for the California Civil Rights System (CCRS) is https://ccrs.calcivilrights.ca.gov/s/. On August 1, 2023, the following URL’s no longer work: https://dfeh.ca.gov and https://ccrs.dfeh.ca.gov).
• File a complaint with the Medical Board of California (MBC), electronically through the MBC portal available at https://dca.ca.gov/consumers/complaints/medbd, or by calling 1-800-633-2322, or by writing to the department at:
  Medical Board of California
  Central Complaint Unit
  2005 Evergreen St., Suite 1200
  Sacramento, CA 95815
• If you need assistance in filing a grievance, a Patient Relations Coordinator is available to help you at 916-734-9777.
• If you would like to have a copy of these rights, please make your request known to a staff member or contact Patient Relations at 916-734-9777.

*Protected Health Information (PHI) is defined as any clinical health information related to the patient’s past, present or future physical or mental health condition which is obtained by any health care provider, either verbally or in writing, and which also includes information which identifies or reasonably identifies an individual.

As a patient of UC Davis Medical Center, you have the following responsibilities:

• To follow UC Davis Health rules and regulations affecting patient care and conduct, including smoking, cell phone and electrically powered equipment regulations, and the visitor policy.
• To be considerate of UC Davis personnel, treat them in an appropriate manner and avoid disrespectful or abusive behaviors. This also pertains to UC Davis facilities and equipment.
• To refrain from demands for inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment.
• To respect the rights, privacy and property of other patients and UC Davis personnel.
• To report, to the best of your knowledge, accurate and complete information regarding any matters pertaining to your health to the physicians and other health care professionals caring for you. This may include present complaints, past illness, hospitalizations, medications or unexpected changes in condition.
• To make an effort to understand your health care needs by being informed and asking questions about your health care treatment and care.
• To follow the treatment plan recommended by the health care provider responsible for your care.
• To understand how to continue your care after you leave the hospital.
• To accept the consequences if you choose to refuse treatment or not follow instructions given by your health care provider.
• To keep appointments and cooperate with your health care provider. If you need to cancel an appointment, do so at least 24 hours ahead of time.
• To know your health insurance coverage, such as your eligibility for benefits; your plan’s requirements for preauthorization before treatment; the limits and non-covered benefits specified in your coverage; and the expenses you are responsible for paying out of pocket. Please ask our staff for assistance if needed, and always inform our staff of any changes in your coverage.
• To work with your account representative to make payment arrangements and pay bills promptly.

This Patients’ Rights document incorporates the requirements of The Joint Commission; Title 22, California Code of Regulations, Section 70707; Health and Safety Code Sections 1262.6, 1288.4 and 124960; 42 C.F.R. Section 482.13 (Medicare Conditions of Participation) and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.

The University of California and UC Davis Health are committed to the principle of treating each community member with respect and dignity. Across all of its locations, including clinical settings, the University prohibits discrimination and harassment (including sexual assault and other forms of sexual harassment).

To learn more about our commitment and how patients can report misconduct in the clinical setting, please visit How to Make a Report of Sexual Harassment and Notice of Nondiscrimination.