Service of Recipient

Insight and value

Individual members of the society are committed to preserving and respecting human dignity. This is especially important in the condition of illness. According to the constitution, paying attention to human dignity is one of the basic principles of the Islamic Republic, and the government is obliged to provide health and medical services for every person in the country. Based on this, the provision of health services should be fair and based on respect for the rights and human dignity of patients.

This charter has been prepared according to the high human values and based on Islamic and Iranian culture and based on the equality of inherent dignity of all recipients of health services and with the aim of maintaining, promoting and strengthening the human relationship between providers and recipients of health services.

Patient rights

First Principle: It is the patient’s right to receive an optimum quality of medical care.

1-1: Befitting the status of the patient, along with respect for values, cultural and religious beliefs.

1-2: Must be based on honesty, fairness, courtesy and compassion.

1-3: Must be free of cultural, religious, cultural, racial prejudices, with no discrimination with regards to the gender and ailment.

1-4: Must be based on the latest medical findings.

1-5: Must be founded on the interests of patients.

1-6: Distribution of health resources must be done in a non-discriminatory and just manner.

1-7: Must be based on the coordination of the principles of medical care including, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

1-8: Provision of all necessary and basic welfare facilities, without causing trouble and pain.

1-9: Special attention to the rights of vulnerable groups such as children, expectant mothers, the elderly, mental patients, convicts, psychiatric patients, and people with no legal guardians.

1-10: Swift and respecting the time of patients.

1-11: Variables such as language, age, and gender must be taken into account.

1-12: In emergency cases, medical care shall be administered without considering the receipt of expenses, and in non-emergency cases it shall be treated as per the regulations.

1-13: In emergency cases where medical care cannot be given, after offering the necessary services, the hospital shall pave the way for the transfer of patient to a more equipped center.

1-14: For terminally ill patients where death is certain, measures are taken to lessen the pain and suffering of the patients, and due attention is given to the mental, social, and mental needs of the patients and their families. The patient has the right to spend time with whomever he/she wants during the last moments of his/her life.

Principle 2: Any information must be communicated appropriately and adequately.

2-1: Content of the information must include the following:

2-1-1: provisions adopted in the patient rights charter.

2-1-2: regulations; predictable expenses, including medical and non-medical care; insurance regulations; announcing support systems during admission.

2-1-3: Names, responsibilities, ranks of the members of the medical group, including Medical Practitioners, Nurses, Students, and their interrelation.

2-1-4: Methods of diagnosis, treatment, along with their strengths and weaknesses, and potential side effects, as well as all the information in decision makings in relation to the patient.

2-1-5: Ways to access the medical practitioners, and principal medical group members during the course of treatment.

2-1-6: All measures of research nature.

2-1-7: Necessary instructions for the continuation of treatment.

2-2: Service Delivery Methods:

2-2-1: Information must be conveyed with due regards to the patient status, including anxiety, pain, individual traits, language, and academic and comprehension proficiency of the individual.

• Where the disclosure of information to the patient before a procedure puts his/her life in danger, such disclosure will be made after such a procedure.
• Where the patient abstains from receiving such information, the patient’s request shall be accommodated.

2-2-2: The patient has the right to access and collect the copy of all the related registered information, and even request for the correction of the errors inserted therein.

Third Principle: Patient Choice and Decisions in the course of receiving medical care must be respected.

3-1: Scope of patient choice and decisions encompass the following:

3-1-1: Selection of the medical practitioner and medical services center must be in line with the regulations

3-1-2: Choosing or seeking the opinion of a second medical practitioner as consultant

3-1-3: Participation or non-participation in biological researches while making sure such a decision does not interfere with the medical services received.

3-1-4: Accepting or rejecting proposed treatments, after knowing about the potential side effects, unless in suicide cases or cases in which avoiding treatment puts the life of another person at risk.

3-1-5: The previous opinion of the patient on the upcoming medical procedures, while he/she still has the capacity to make decisions, shall be considered as instructions when the patient lacks the ability to make decisions, with due regards to the regulations.

3-2: Conditions of making choices and decisions include the following:

3-2-1: Patient choices and decisions must be made freely, consciously based on the receiving of comprehensive and adequate information (as mentioned in part 2)

3-2-2: After delivering the information, adequate time is given to the patient to make deciisons.

Principle 4: Medical services must be based on a respect to patient privacy and with due regards to the principle of confidentiality.

4-1: Confidentiality regarding all the information about the patient is necessary, unless in cases excepted by the law.

4-2: During all stages of medical care, including diagnosis and treatment, the privacy of the patient must be protected, and all measures for guaranteeing the privacy of the patient must be taken.

4-3: Only the patient, medical group, and authorized individuals are allowed to access information on a particular patient.

4-4: Patients have the right to be accompanied by another person unless in cases excepted by the regulations and medical emergencies.

Principle 5: Access to an efficient system on the complaints is the right of patient.

5-1: Any patient has the right to make complaints to competent authorities in case his/her rights are violated.

5-2: Patient have the right to be aware of the process and results of their complaints.

5-3: Damages caused through the fault of service providers, must be remedied in the earliest possible date after adjudication and proving the case.

In the implementation of the provisions of this charter, if the patient lacks decision-making capacity for any reason, the exercise of all the rights of the patient – mentioned in this charter – will be the responsibility of the alternative legal decision-maker. Of course, if the substitute decision-maker prevents the patient’s treatment against the doctor’s opinion, the doctor can appeal the decision through the relevant authorities.

If a patient who lacks sufficient capacity to make a decision, but can make a reasonable decision in a part of the treatment process, his decision should be respected.