Patient Consent/Patient Rights & Responsiblities/End of Life (SLP) - Essay Example

Patient Rights & Responsibilities Number: Introduction Patients tend to have numerous expectations as well as rights that they hope to be observed by medical practitioners or generally health care providing organizations. Some go to an extent of expecting that healthcare personnel and organizations can help them in meeting their responsibilities as well. Unlike the ordinary citizens whose wide range of rights are protected by the enacted states and federal statues, patients’ rights are very different and a few in number.

The widely known patients’ rights include right to privacy and security, a right that regulates accessibility of patient’s medical records. Right to refuse care especially if the treatment is recommended for a non-life threatening illnesses is another right of any patient in the USA although there are exemptions of which they are determined by a state agency or a judge (Pozgar, 2007). Other rights include the right to choose a doctor of patient’s choice whom he or she believes will handle his or her condition appropriately and competently and right to make crucial decision especially if the patient is in stable or is of sound mind, right to accesses medical record whenever he or she feels like having them.

Moreover, any patient in the USA is entitled to a right to Understanding Informed Consent meaning that doctors are required by law to provide information about the benefits, risks and alternatives of any test, procedure or treatment she recommends, before it is performed (Torrey, 2014). This right requires patients to sign a document that states their doctors have provided that information. Patients are also entitled to a right of deciding how their lives can be terminated especially when that merciful killing is the only available option remaining.

In the provided case study, Sparza’s (patient) rights were violated in a number of ways. First, she was made to sign the general admission forms and the surgical consent form that were all written in English and as mentioned she had little skills in English language. This means that her right to Understanding Informed Consent was violated. Her right to make decisions by herself or through her chosen agents (Sparza’s son and daughter) regarding termination of life was also violated though for some time (two days).

Finally, she was not given an opportunity to decide the way her life would have been terminated though this is negligible because she was in a comma. According to the US medical laws, Dr Lox and his nurse Johnson were required to ensure that the patient would first understand all the documents she was to sign, adhere to her decision to terminate her life rather than putting her in a dialysis machine, explain to her why she needed to have her both eyes operated as well as give her an opportunity to decide how her life could be terminated (Larson, 2003).

However, right to deciding how her life could be terminated can be overlooked because she was in a comma and her agents might not have been conversant with the various ways doctors terminate lives. However, this case has not given further details as to whether the doctor was apprehended and prosecuted though this should have been the case. If Dr Lox could have been sued, he would have definitely been found guilty for violation of patient’s rights as per the US medical laws. ReferencesLarson, A. (2003). The Legal Guardianship - Information About Guardianships.

Retrieved  on June 27, 2014, from http://www.expertlaw.com/library/estate_planning/guardianship.html Pozgar, G. (2007). Legal aspects of health care administration (10th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Torrey, Trisha (2014). Choosing the Right Doctor for Your Medical Needs. Retrieved  on June 27, 2014, from http://patients.about.com/od/yourdiagnosis/a/doctorright.htm