Patient Rights & Responsibilities
As a patient of Cook County Health, understanding your rights and responsibilities can help us provide you with quality health care.
Cook County Health includes these facilities:
John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County
Provident Hospital of Cook County
Cermak Health Services of Cook County
Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center
Ambulatory & Community Health Network
Cook County Department of Public Health
Patient Bill of Rights & Responsibilities
Patient Bill of Rights & Responsibilities – English
Patient Bill of Rights & Responsibilities – Spanish
Patient Bill of Rights & Responsibilities – Polish
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You have the right to polite, respectful, quality care, including the right:
- To be treated with dignity and respect in a place that is safe and healing.
- To access health care that is available and meets our mission and legal requirements.
- To receive up-to-date information about your care and health condition in terms that you can understand.
- To receive skilled and compassionate care from each member of our staff and to have your cultural, spiritual and personal values, beliefs, and preferences respected no matter who you are, where you are from, or what you believe.
- To receive health care for your whole self, body, and mind, including having your pain measured and managed.
- To wear personal clothing, religious or symbolic items, unless they interfere with health care procedures or treatment or violate others’ rights
- To access cultural, religious, pastoral, spiritual, and psychological services.
- To ask for translation services, including sign language (or other methods that meet your visual, speech or hearing conditions), so that you can understand information about your health care.
- To receive information about medical costs that you may be responsible for paying and any insurance limits. You may also ask for information about resources for financial assistance.
- To a timely and reasonable response to questions and service requests.
You have the right to know about your treatment and the health care team, including the right:
- To have a family member or representative of your choice and your own doctor promptly notified of your admission.
- To know the names and roles of the team members involved in your care.
- To participate in your care plan process in a way that you understand.
- To receive information regarding your medical diagnosis, procedures, treatment, and prospects for recovery, including any risks or complications involved and any unanticipated outcomes.
- To refuse to give your consent for treatment or services, if you have not received information that you understand.
- To be free from restraints or seclusion unless the use of these methods is necessary for medical or safety purposes.
- To continual care, including information about the care recommended for you after your discharge.
- To use any of our educational resources to understand the different parts of your care.
- To receive a complete explanation of the need for you to transfer to another facility or organization, including options besides a transfer. The transfer must be accepted by the other facility or organization.
- To refuse a transfer to another facility or organization.
- To receive information on our policies related to your hospitalization or treatment.
You have the right to make decisions about your care, including:
- To decide whether you want to consent to treatment, care and services.
- To withdraw your consent at any time, as allowed by law, after being informed of the consequences of this decision during your treatment.
- To request a second opinion from another physician.
- To ask family, including your same sex partner or decision maker, or appoint a representative to help you make health care decisions.
- To be given written information about advance directives and to get help from hospital staff to create, review, or change an advance directive. Advance directives provide doctors and staff with your wishes about your care when you are not able to communicate that to us. This right applies at any time during your treatment.
- To make decisions about your health care at the end of life. We support you and your family or representative. This includes the right to make decisions about when to receive life-saving services, including the right to not use life-sustaining medical treatment as allowable by law. These decisions may be changed at any time during your treatment.
- To have your organ donation wishes followed in line with our legal responsibilities and resources.
You have the right to receive information about any research or educational activities related to your care, including:
- Information about the purpose of the research.
- The expected length of time that you will participate.
- A clear description of the procedures to be followed.
- A statement of the potential benefits, risks, discomforts, and side effects.
- Information about alternative care, treatment, and services available to you that may help your health.
- The right to refuse to participate in any research or educational activity and to know that the quality of the care you receive will not change because you do not participate.
- The right to withdraw your consent, at any time, to participate in research or educational activity.
You have the right to privacy, including the right:
- To have your personal privacy respected. Your care, examination, treatment, and meetings with staff should be confidential and discreet and your personal preferences will be honored.
- To personal security, including access to protective or advocacy services.
- To be free from all forms of neglect, abuse, exploitation, or harassment.
- To receive information about our visitation rights policy and choose the visitors you would like to see, including a spouse, domestic partner, same sex partner, or a family member or friend, unless visitors interfere with your medical condition or treatment. You may refuse visitors or calls at any time.
- To receive our Notice of Privacy Practices.
- To expect that all communication and records related to your care will be treated as confidential, as allowable by law.
- To request a copy of your medical records from our facilities and request a change be made to your record, as allowable by law.
- To request information about how your medical information has been shared or disclosed, as allowable by law.
- To review a line by line copy of your medical bill and have it explained.
You have the right to file a complaint or grievance
and to be given information on our process for resolving complaints or grievances and the contact name and information for where to file a grievance or complaint.
Patient Responsibilities
To help us provide you with quality health care, you have a responsibility:
To provide us with complete and accurate information about your health, including illnesses you have now or had in the past, pain, medications, allergies, vitamin, and home remedies you use.
To follow your recommended treatment plan and instructions.
To ask questions when you have them and to tell your doctor or nurse if you do not understand any part of the care provided or your care plan.
- To tell any member of your health care team about any unhappiness you may have with the care provided.
- To respect the rights, property and privacy of other patients and their families.
- To respect our property and facilities. Do not get in the way of hospital operations.
- To follow facility rules and regulations, including visiting hours, infectious disease control measure, patient care priorities and safety standards.
- To conduct all your interactions with our staff, patients and visitors in a respectful and polite manner. Please do not use inappropriate, harmful, threatening, rude, harassing, abusive, violent or discriminatory language and behavior.
- To keep appointments, and when you are not able to make an appointment for any reason, to notify your provider.
- To make sure any financial obligations for your care are met to the maximum extent possible.
- To accept the consequences resulting from not following the recommended plan of care.
- To follow the NO SMOKING rule.
Nondiscrimination Statement
Discrimination is against the law. Cook County Health complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Cook County Health does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.
Cook County Health:
- Provides free aids and services to people with disabilities to communicate effectively with us, such as:
- Qualified sign language interpreters
- Written information in other formats (large print, audio, accessible electronic formats, other formats)
- Provides free language services to people whose primary language is not English, such as:
- Qualified interpreters
- Information written in other languages
- If you need these services, please contact Patient Relations at Cook County Health by calling (312) 864-0185.
Cook County Health Department of Patient Relations
You also have the right to file a complaint with the agencies and departments listed below:
Illinois Department of Public Health
Central Complaint Registry
525 W. Jefferson Street
Springfield, IL 62761
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Phone: (800) 252-4343
TTY: (800) 526-4372
E-mail: [email protected]
Illinois Department of Human Rights
Intake Unit
100 W. Randolph Street, Tenth Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-6200
TTY: (866) 740-3953
The Joint Commission
Office of Quality Monitoring
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: (800) 994-6610
Fax: (630) 792-5636
E-mail: [email protected]
If you believe that Cook County Health has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex, you can file a grievance in person, by mail, fax or via our website. If you need help filing a grievance, the Cook County Health Grievance & Appeals Coordinator is available to help you:
Linh Dang
1969 W. Ogden Ave., Suite 1280
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (312) 864-6827
Fax: (312) 864-9119
You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal or by mail or phone at:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue
HHH Building – SW Room 509F
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)
Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html
English: ATTENTION: If you speak ENGLISH, language assistance services, free of charge, are available to you. Call (312) 864-0185.
Spanish: ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al (312) 864-0185.
Polish: UWAGA: Jeżeli mówisz po polsku, możesz skorzystać z bezpłatnej pomocy językowej. Zadzwoń pod numer (312) 864-0185.
Chinese: 注意:如果您使用繁體中文,您可以免費獲得語言援助服務。請致電 (312) 864-0185.
Korean: 주의: 한국어를 사용하시는 경우, 언어 지원 서비스를 무료로 이용하실 수 있습니다. (312) 864-0185. 번으로 전화해 주십시오.
Tagalog: PAUNAWA: Kung nagsasalita ka ng Tagalog, maaari kang gumamit ng mga serbisyo ng tulong sa wika nang walang bayad. Tumawag sa (312) 864-0185.
Arabic: ملحوظة: إذا كنت تتحدث اذكر اللغة، فإن خدمات المساعدة اللغوية تتوافر لك بالمجان. اتصل برقم 312-864-0185 / 855-444-1661 / 711 (رقم هاتف الصم والبكم: 312-864-0185.
Russian: ВНИМАНИЕ: Если вы говорите на русском языке, то вам доступны бесплатные услуги перевода. Звоните (312) 864-0185.
Gujarati: સુચના: જો તમે ગુજરાતી બોલતા હો, તો નિ:શુલ્ક ભાષા સહાય સેવાઓ તમારા માટે ઉપલબ્ધ છે. ફોન કરો (312) 864-0185.
Urdu: خبردار: اگر آپ اردو بولتے ہیں، تو آپ کو زبان کی مدد کی خدمات مفت میں دستیاب ہیں ۔ کال 312-864-0185.
Vietnamese: CHÚ Ý: Nếu bạn nói Tiếng Việt, có các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ miễn phí dành cho bạn. Gọi số (312) 864-0185.
Italian: ATTENZIONE: In caso la lingua parlata sia l’italiano, sono disponibili servizi di assistenza linguistica gratuiti. Chiamare il numero (312) 864-0185.
Hindi: ध्यान दें: यदि आप हिंदी बोलते हैं तो आपके लिए मुफ्त में भाषा सहायता सेवाएं उपलब्ध हैं। (312) 864-0185.
French: ATTENTION : Si vous parlez français, des services d’aide linguistique vous sont proposés gratuitement. Appelez le (312) 864-0185.
Greek: ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ: Αν μιλάτε ελληνικά, στη διάθεσή σας βρίσκονται υπηρεσίες γλωσσικής υποστήριξης, οι οποίες παρέχονται δωρεάν. Καλέστε (312) 864-0185.
German: ACHTUNG: Wenn Sie Deutsch sprechen, stehen Ihnen kostenlos sprachliche Hilfsdienstleistungen zur Verfügung. Rufnummer: (312) 864-0185.
Inquiries
If you have concerns about the care you or a family member received, please speak with your physician or nurse. Or, if you prefer, you can call Cook County Health Patient Relations at the facility numbers below:
John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital – Patient Services Coordinator
(312) 864-0185
Provident Hospital – Patient Relations
(312) 572-2637
Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center, Patient Advocate
(312) 572-4861
Ambulatory & Community Health Network
(312) 864-0719
Cook County Department of Public Health, Integrated Health Support Services
(708) 633-2000
You also have the right to file a complaint with the agencies and departments listed below:
Illinois Department of Public Health
Central Complaint Registry
525 W. Jefferson Street
Springfield, IL 62761
Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Phone: (800) 252-4343
TTY: (800) 526-4372
E-mail: [email protected]
Illinois Department of Human Rights
Intake Unit
100 W. Randolph Street, Tenth Floor
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: (312) 814-6200
TTY: (866) 740-3953
The Joint Commission
Office of Quality Monitoring
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: (800) 994-6610
Fax: (630) 792-5636
E-mail: [email protected]
Advanced Directive Planning
Make your wishes known
When you are sick, you have a right to choose what treatment and care you receive, even if you can no longer decide or speak for yourself. Advance care planning helps you make sure these wishes are known.
What is advance care planning?
Advance care planning is an ongoing process to help you plan for your future. It should spark conversations with your family and other loved ones that you should revisit as you determine your priorities, needs and goals when it comes to care.
However you choose to plan your care, it’s important to put your wishes in writing by creating an advance directive. In the future, if your plan of care changes, you can make updates to your advanced directive.
What is an advance directive?
An advance directive is a written document to record your wishes and preferences when it comes to your health care. Your completed advance directive lets your loved ones and health care providers know:
- What treatment you want (and don’t want)
- Who should make care decisions when you can’t
- How you want people to treat you
- What you want your loved ones to know
It also makes sure that everyone is clear about your wishes in the event that you are unable to tell them yourself.
Every person, regardless of age or current health status, should make sure their voice is heard. Set time aside to discuss advanced care with family members and loved ones.
Most importantly, document your preferences in writing by completing an advanced directive for healthcare. Once completed, share copies with your family, your health care provider, and your hospital.
A witness must sign these documents as well.
Resources
In Illinois, there are several legal advance directive documents available. Some of the forms you may download here include:
- Declaration for Mental Health Treatment Form
- Declaration for Mental Health Treatment Form (En Español)
- Living Will Declaration Form
- Living Will Declaration Form (En Español)
- Practitioner Orders For Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Form (Arabic) (Chinese (Simplified)) (Chinese (Traditional)) (French) (Hindi) (Korean) (Polish) (Spanish)
- Power of Attorney for Health Care
- Power of Attorney for Health Care (Spanish)