Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia › Department 111 - RULES OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY HEALTH › Chapter 111-8 - HEALTHCARE FACILITY REGULATION › Subject 111-8-37 - RULE AND REGULATIONS FOR HOSPICES › Rule 111-8-37-.10 - Patient and Family Rights

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through June 27, 2024
(1) The hospice must ensure that patients and
				their families receive hospice care and palliative care for persons with
				advanced and progressive diseases, when offered, in a manner that respects and
				protects their dignity and ensures all patients' rights to:
(a) Participate in the hospice voluntarily
				and sever the relationship with the hospice at any time;
(b) Receive only the care and services to
				which the patient and/or the patient's family have consented;
(c) Receive care in a setting and manner that
				preserves the patient's dignity, privacy, and safety to the maximum extent
				possible;
(d) Receive hospice care
				in a manner that neither physically nor emotionally abuses the patient, nor
				neglects the patient's needs;
(e)
				Receive care free from unnecessary use of restraints;
(f) Receive education in the availability and
				use of the hospice's grievance process for all patients;
(g) Communicate grievances, concerns or
				complaints to the hospice for prompt resolution;
(h) Refuse any specific treatment from the
				hospice without severing the relationship with the hospice;
(i) Choose their own private attending
				physician, so long as the physician agrees to abide by the policies and
				procedures of the hospice;
(j)
				Exercise the religious beliefs and generally recognized customs of their
				choice, not in conflict with health and safety standards, during the course of
				their hospice treatment and exclude religion from their treatment if they so
				choose;
(k) Have their family unit,
				legal guardian, if any, and their patient representative present any time
				during an inpatient stay, unless the presence of the family unit, legal
				guardian, if any, or patient representative poses a risk to the patient or
				others;
(l) Participate in the
				development of the patient's plan of care and any changes to that
				plan;
(m) Have maintained as
				confidential any medical or personal information about the patient;
(n) Continue hospice care and not be
				discharged from the hospice during periods of coordinated or approved
				appropriate hospital admissions;
(o) Be provided with a description of the
				hospice care provided and levels of care to which the patient is entitled
				depending upon whether the patient is terminally ill or suffering from an
				advanced and progressive disease, and any charges associated with such
				services;
(p) Review, upon request,
				copies of any inspection report completed by the Department within the two
				years preceding the request;
(q)
				Make self-determinations concerning medical care, which encompass the right to
				make choices regarding life-sustaining treatment, including resuscitative
				services;
(r) Continue to receive
				appropriate hospice care when terminally ill without regard for the ability to
				pay for such care; and
(s) Have
				communication of information provided in a method that is effective for the
				patient. If the hospice cannot provide communications in a method that is
				effective for the patient, attempts to provide such shall be documented in the
				patient's medical record.