La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § III-531

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section III-531 - Patient Rights

A. The clinic shall acknowledge the dignity and protect the rights of all patients and their families.

B. Each patient shall have the right to be served without discrimination as to age, sex, race, creed, color or national origin.

C. The patient and his family shall be encouraged to participate in the plans for treatment. The nature of treatment and any specific risks involved shall be carefully explained, especially when the use of potentially hazardous drugs or somatic procedures is contemplated.

D. Except as required by law, no information, written or verbal, concerning the patient or his/her family shall be released or requested without a dated, signed, and witnessed statement made by the patient (or his agent) authorizing the clinic to do so. The statement of authorization shall indicate by name to whom or from whom information will be transmitted.

E. The rights and privacy of patients shall be safeguarded in regard to center or clinic visitors. Visits by educational or community groups shall be scheduled so as to minimally interrupt the patients' usual activities and therapeutic programs. Patients shall be informed of such visits in advance and cases shall never be discussed by name or within hearing of the patients.

F. Prior to using one-way mirrors, tape recorders, cameras, or audiovisual equipment for assessment, treatment, educational or evaluation purposes, center or clinic staff shall explain their function to the patient and receive his permission. There shall be written policies and procedures governing the use of such equipment to ensure confidentiality and protect the rights of patient against unauthorized disclosure of information.

G. Each request for service by an applicant shall be acknowledged. The applicant shall be notified whether or not service can be rendered and if not, what other resources might be available.

H. Each patient shall have the right to communicate freely with his/ her attorney and private physician and to have his/her case record made available to these individuals upon written request.

I. The following statement of patient rights enumerated in Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, 28:171, shall be adhered to as appropriate.

1. Every patient shall have the following rights regardless of adjudication of incompetency, a list of which shall be prominently posted in all hospitals or other treatment, evaluation and examination facilities. These rights shall also be brought to the attention of patients by such additional means as the Office of Hospitals (or its legal successors) may designate by regulations. Every patient shall have the right:

a. to wear his own clothes; to keep and use his personal possessions, including toilet articles; to keep and be allowed to spend a reasonable sum of his own money for canteen expenses and small purchases; and to have access to individual storage spaces for his private use;

b. to correspond by sealed letter with people outside the hospital and to have access to reasonable amounts of letter writing materials and postage;

c. to be visited at all reasonable times;

d. to be employed at a useful occupation depending upon the patient's condition and available facilities;

e. to sell the products of his personal skill and labor at the discretion of the superintendent and to keep the proceeds thereof or to send them to his family;

f. to be discharged as soon as he has been restored to reason and has become competent to manage his own affairs. The medical director or superintendent of the treatment facility shall have the authority to discharge the patient without the approval of the court which committed him to the treatment facility;

g. to be visited in private by his attorney at all times;

h. to request an informal court hearing to be held within five days of receipt of the request. If the patient does not have an attorney of his own, the court shall appoint an attorney who shall represent the patient at the hearing. The purpose of the hearing shall be to determine whether or not the patient should be discharged from treatment;

i. to apply for a writ of habeas corpus;

j. to be visited and examined at his own expense by a physician designated by him or a member of his family or a near friend. The physician may consult and confer with the medical staff of the treating facility and have the benefit of all information contained in the patient's medical record.

2. The medical director or superintendent of the treating facility may for good cause only, deny a patient's rights under this Section, except that the rights enumerated in Clauses f, g, h, i and j shall not be denied under any circumstances.

3. A statement explaining the reasons for any denial of a patient's rights shall be immediately entered in his treatment record.

4. Each patient shall be entitled to exercise the right to dispose of property, execute legal instruments, enter into contractual relations and vote, unless he has been judged incompetent by a court and has not been restored to legal competency.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § III-531

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Resources, Office of Mental Health, LR 13:246 (April 1987).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with PL 94 :63, the Community Mental Health Centers' Act of 1975 and R.S. 1950, Title 28, §203.