Patient rights

Notice of Patient Rights


If you are a patient of CHI Memorial, you have the right to:

  1. Know about your individual rights before you receive care and/or before discontinuing care.
  2. File a grievance or complaint about your care, know about the process used to review and deal with the grievance or complaint, and receive a response from us about your grievance or complaint. Learn more about filing a grievance or complaint.
  3. Have an active part in deciding your plan of care and how it is carried out.
  4. Make informed decisions about your care or name a person who will make the decisions for you. This right includes being fully aware of your medical condition, being involved in planning your care and treatment, and being able to ask for or refuse treatment. This right does not include access to treatment or medical services that are not needed or are not medically right for you.
  5. Have your concerns about the quality of care or an early release from the hospital reviewed in a timely manner, and request that your concerns be sent to the Utilization and Quality Control Peer Review Process or to the Center for Health Care Quality if you are a Medicare patient.
  6. Make Advance Directives and have facility staff and practitioners who provide care in the facility comply with these directives.
  7. Have a family member or person of your choice and your physician notified right away when you are admitted to the hospital.
  8. Have personal privacy.
  9. Receive care that respects your emotional, spiritual and cultural needs, and have that care delivered in a safe setting.
  10. Be free from all forms of abuse or harassment.
  11. Be assured that your medical records are kept private.
  12. Receive information from your medical records within a reasonable time.
  13. Be free from restraints and seclusion of any form that are not medically necessary. These measures may not be used for coercion, discipline, convenience or retaliation by staff.
  14. Receive a copy and/or explanation of your hospital bill, regardless of who actually pays for your hospital stay.
  15. Have free interpreter services and other language assistance.
  16. Have your pain evaluated and managed appropriately.
  17. Participate in (or have the person you choose participate in) the discussion of ethical issues that may arise about your care.
  18. Know the name, position and duties of any person caring for you and be informed about the relationships between the hospital and any person or other facility involved in your care.
  19. Be told about research procedures or treatment that may be considered as part of your care. You will be able to discuss this research with the physician involved in the research, and you may refuse the procedure if you wish.
  20. Have information on how to receive continuing care after leaving the hospital and about any medical appointments you may have.

Patient Responsibilities


Health care is best when patients, their families or representatives all participate in the care. By fulfilling these responsibilities, you can contribute to the effectiveness of your care. Patients are responsible to:

  1. Provide complete information regarding health problems that you have had and medications, vitamins and other supplements you may be taking.
  2. Carefully follow the directions of the health care team. Ask your nurse or caregiver any questions that you have about your care needs, safety or other concerns.
  3. Avoid behaviors that may be irritating or disruptive to others; abide by hospital rules and regulations.
  4. Provide the hospital with copies of Advance Directives if you have them and if you want them to be followed in the event of terminal illness or if you are unable to speak for yourself.
  5. Be prompt to pay hospital bills, to ask questions concerning the bill and to provide the information necessary for insurance processing.

Discrimination is Against the Law


CHI Memorial complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. CHI Memorial does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. 

CHI Memorial:

  • 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:
    • CHI Memorial Hospital Chattanooga - call the House Administrator at (423) 595-4477
    • CHI Memorial Hospital Hixson - call the House Administrator at (423) 595-1440
    • CHI Memorial Hospital Georgia - call the Emergency Department Charge Nurse at (706)-858-2161

If you believe that CHI Memorial 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 with:  Paul Weaver, Director of Service Excellence, 2525 deSales Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37404, (423) 495-2772, Paul.Weaver@commonspirit.org. You can file a grievance in person or by mail, fax, or email. If you need help filing a grievance, Paul Weaver, Director of Service Excellence, is available to help you. 

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, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at: 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
200 Independence Avenue, SW 
Room 509F, HHH Building 
Washington, D.C. 20201 
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD) 

Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html.

 

Select your preferred language below to review CHI Memorial's nondiscrimination notice.