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From Congress Chairpersons

In the current health  system, the patient rights, which mean, the protection of persons’ health, qualified and equal care to the patients and accessibility to the treatment, have gained importance in last 3-4 decades and have became conceptual.. In the process of this conceptualization, the rights of the patient have been defined.
 
                       
Patient rights: This concept is defined as the rights that come across between the patient and medical personnel in both social and individual level, that are the tasks and responsibilities of the medical personnel against the patient and visa versa, and finally the rights that must be claimed by both parties in order to create a better health environment. Those rights are fundamentally express the application of human resources and values to the health service and can be explained as the rationalization of the expectations and decisions throughout the patient and health service.
In the international documents, the protection of human rights and values in medical care, informing, consent, privacy (privilege) and confidentiality, ability to decide throughout care and treatment as well as attendance and right to make applications are jointly form the fundamental framework of the patient rights. Also on the documents about the patient rights, along with the rights, the responsibilities of patients and medical personnel are indicated. It can be stated that “the protection of the right of a patient as a matter of fact mean; in a chain of a reciprocal relations in healthcare, is the protection of the medical employees and altogether this causes the improvement of the social conscious”.
 
When the US Senate passed the Patient’s Bill of Rights back in 2011 the majority of the public was happy to see such rights promulgated into law and breaking these promises will be an act punishable by law. The Bill was very basic though. It afforded patients such rights to:
  • have their medical decisions made by a doctor;
  • see a medical specialist;
  • go to the closest emergency room;
  • designate a pediatrician as a primary care doctor for their children;
  • keep the same doctor throughout their medical treatment;
  • obtain the prescription drugs their doctor prescribes;
  • access a fair and independent appeals process if care is denied; and
  • hold their health plan accountable for harm done.
Yet even with these basic rights some resisted such rights. In particular, insurers formed a front group called the Health Benefits Coalition to kill efforts to pass a Patients Bill of Rights. While others thought that these are not enough and should be expanded to include such items are “freedoms”. These were listed by the American Association of Physician ns and Surgeons to include:
All patients should be guaranteed the following freedoms:
  • To seek consultation with the physician(s) of their choice;
  • To contract with their physician(s) on mutually agreeable terms;
  • To be treated confidentially, with access to their records limited to those involved in their care or designated by the patient;
  • To use their own resources to purchase the care of their choice;
  • To refuse medical treatment even if it is recommended by their physician(s);
  • To be informed about their medical condition, the risks and benefits of treatment and appropriate alternatives;
  • To refuse third-party interference in their medical care, and to be confident that their actions in seeking or declining medical care will not result in third-party-imposed penalties for patients or physicians;
  • To receive full disclosure of their insurance plan in plain language, including:
  1. CONTRACTS: A copy of the contract between the physician and health care plan, and between the patient or employer and the plan;
  2. INCENTIVES: Whether participating physicians are offered financial incentives to reduce treatment or ration care;
  3. COST: The full cost of the plan, including copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles;
  4. COVERAGE: Benefits covered and excluded, including availability and location of 24-hour emergency care;
  5. QUALIFICATIONS: A roster and qualifications of participating physicians;
  6. APPROVAL PROCEDURES: Authorization procedures for services, whether doctors need approval of a committee or any other individual, and who decides what is medically necessary;
  7. REFERRALS: Procedures for consulting a specialist, and who must authorize the referral;
  8. APPEALS: Grievance procedures for claim or treatment denials;
  9. GAG RULE: Whether physicians are subject to a gag rule, preventing criticism of the plan.
Besides of the patients who benefit the in-patient or out-patient service on the process, knowing their rights, the informed and well aware medical personnel about their rights is an expected and a desirable situation. This progress is an indicator of the awareness of society and it may reduce the legal disputes to a minimum amount. Studies made in our country on the relevant field showed that, the awareness between the patients and medical employees, regarding the legal regulations and applications for patient rights in TC.are 9-25 percent.
 
In this year’s conference we would like to expand on one of these “freedoms”; “To be treated confidentially, with access to their records limited to those involved in their care or designated by the patient”. We believe that confidentiality is so important that breaking it is not only a violation of patients rights and their privacy but also one of the basics of human rights. Patient Confidentiality is not only the law in a number of countries but it is an ethical duty imposed on and expected from all and any healthcare professional especially care givers.   Both personal and professional relationships demand confidentiality. Many individuals regard information about their health as appropriately private,
and medical privacy as something to which they have a moral right. Everyone and every entity participating in the delivery of health-care related services is ascribed the duty of patient confidentiality. Health care providers are ethically bound to keep charts and other medical information obtained in the context of care, confidential. Therefore we must agree as a theme of this conference to discuss the purpose of confidentiality and the benefits of keeping patient information as confidential. We should agree as per Allen (2008) a bioethicist and law scholar, that keeping confidentiality will improve patient outcomes since:
 
First, confidentiality encourages individuals to seek essential medical care.
 
Second, confidentiality practices lay a foundation for frank disclosures in inpatient
and out-patient settings.
 
Third, preventive medicine, early diagnosis and treatment save money.
 
In this years’ conference we should discuss what is and what is not confidential. We should share ideas on how to protect it and how to enforce it. We must agree on methods to implement it and communicate it and also on the reasons and circumstances where we can breach it and modify it. We should engage in a fruitful discussion as to the value and benefits of confidentiality not only to patients but also to professionals, health regulators, governmental agencies and certainly to healthcare organizations. 
 
We invite to you to actively participate in our conference and in our activities and to come share your thoughts and ideas with other colleagues and scholars from around the world. We invite to you Antalya, Turkey…….

 
Prof. Dr. A.F. Al Assaf      Prof. Dr. Seval Akgün 

                                                                                                

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