page_title: Patients' rights
section_title: Bill of 2001
hierarchical_section_title: Patients' rights / United States / Bill of 2001
caption_attribution_description: English: Bill Clinton, Joe Hoeffel, Ron Klink, Ed Rendell, and Chaka Fattah at an event for the U.S. Patients' Bill of Rights.
context_page_description: A patient's bill of rights is a list of guarantees for those receiving medical care. It may take the form of a law or a non-binding declaration. Typically a patient's bill of rights guarantees patients information, fair treatment, and autonomy over medical decisions, among other rights.
context_section_description: The United States Congress considered a bill designed to safeguard patients' rights in 2001. The "Bipartisan Patient Protection Act" (S.1052), sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy and John McCain,  contained new rules for what health maintenance organizations had to cover and granted new rights for patients to sue in state or federal courts, if they are denied needed care.
  The House of Representatives and Senate passed differing versions of the proposed law. Although both bills would have provided patients key rights, such as prompt access to emergency care and medical specialists, only the Senate-passed measure would provide patients with adequate means to enforce their rights.  The Senate's proposal would have conferred a broad array of rights on patients. It would have ensured that patients with health care plans had the right to:
  have their medical decisions made by a doctor;
  see a medical specialist;
  go to the closest emergency room;
  The bill was passed by the US Senate by a vote of 59–36 in 2001, it was then amended by the House of Representatives and returned to the Senate. However, it ultimately failed.
caption: A rally for the patients' bill of rights proposed in 2001, with Bill Clinton, Joe Hoeffel, Ron Klink, Ed Rendell, and Chaka Fattah.
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