Blue Ridge Regional Hospital promotes caring and compassion. We respect your rights as a patient and want you to know about these rights. We also want you to know the things you can do to help us provide good care. Our staff can help you read this statement of your rights if you have trouble reading or knowing what these rights mean.

We pledge to do all we can to:

• Provide reasonable access to the care you need.
• Show respect for your dignity and privacy as care is given.
• Provide skilled, well-trained staff to care for you.
• Show respect for your values and beliefs, and support you in your beliefs as long as they do not hinder the well-being of others or your planned course of care.
• Keep your hospital and medical records private.
• Treat you and all patients without regard to race, gender, color, religion, national origin, disability, age or ability to pay.
• Listen to, review and try to resolve your concerns. If your concerns cannot be resolved, you may report them to the unit director or the administrator on call. Dial 0 on your room phone or (828) 765-4201 from a home phone. Ask the operator for the administrator on call.
• Inform a person of your choice when you have been admitted to the hospital. We will inform him or her promptly.
• Tell you the names and roles of the people caring for you.
• Tell you about your illness, treatments and likely outcomes.
• Help you take part in planning your care and having an active role in that plan of care. You may request or refuse treatment at any time. You and your physician will discuss the best care for you.
• Appropriately assess and manage your pain. Patients can expect information about pain and pain relief measures, a concerned staff committed to pain prevention and health professionals who respond quickly to reports of pain.
• Assist you in making decisions about your care and let you involve or exclude others in helping you make decisions.
• Take into account any advanced directives, such as a Living Will or Healthcare Power of Attorney, stating your choices about end-of-life medical care and provide information about these documents.
• Tell you which hospital rules and policies apply to you as a patient.
• Take steps to keep you safe.
• Protect you from any form of abuse or harassment by anyone while you are a patient.
• Help you present your concerns, get spiritual care and get advice about ethics, discharge planning and money matters.
• Help you get protection from abuse.
• Show you your bill and explain it to you, no matter how it is paid.
• Let someone you choose act for you and support your rights, if you ever cannot do so. You cannot be denied the right of access to the person or agency who has been given the right to act on your behalf.
• Give emergency care when needed, as quickly as we can.
• Give you quality healthcare.
• Maintain high standards for all healthcare staff.
• Consult you if a doctor wants you to take part in a research program or donor program, and let you choose whether or not to do so. You will receive good care whether you choose to take part or not.
• Get someone to translate for you if you do not speak English or if you have trouble reading, speaking or hearing.
• Provide a copy of patient rights in Braille for patients who are blind and who read Braille.
• Let you review your medical record, unless your doctor has asked that we not do so.
• Read and understand the information in your medical record. You or someone you choose will have access to this information promptly.
• Allow a person you choose to see your medical record even if your doctor has restricted your access to it.
• Give you treatment in such a way that you will not suffer needless physical or mental distress.
• Help you tell about your pain and provide relief for your pain.
• If you are dying, provide care that meets your needs for comfort and well-being.
• Avoid waking you up unless we must do so to follow your plan of care.
• Avoid doing the same medical or nursing procedure more than once, if at all possible.
• Avoid using restraints of any kind except when it is medically necessary. We will not use restraints to coerce you. We will not use restraints as a matter of convenience, discipline or as a method of retaliation by staff.
• Respect your choices for drugs, treatments or procedures offered by the facility. You will be informed of risks or healthcare outcomes to which your choices may lead.
• Help you bring in another doctor if you request, at your expense.
• Transfer you in a safe and prompt manner to another place for care if medically appropriate care cannot be provided, laws do not allow the care requested or you request a transfer.

The successful medical care of patients requires active participation by the patients themselves; therefore, you have a certain responsibility toward your own care. These responsibilities are presented in the spirit of mutual trust and respect.

• Give us correct, complete reports about your health.
• Let the hospital staff or your doctor know if you do not understand the plan for your care or your role in that plan.
• Follow the treatment plan prepared by the doctor and staff.
• Understand the fact that you may cause your health to become worse if you refuse treatment or do not follow the plan of treatment.
• Do what the hospital staff requests, within reason.
• Report changes in your health.
• Keep your appointments.
• Follow hospital rules.
• Take into account the needs and feelings of other patients and the hospital staff.
• Pay your hospital bills promptly.
• Provide advance directives (Living Will or Healthcare Power of Attorney) if you have any.