Patients’ Rights

The Threat to Patients’ Rights

“People of all faiths use our hospitals”

Faith-based health care restrictions are spreading throughout the American health system, as religiously-sponsored health providers gain market share and as faith-based concepts about health care are incorporated into government policies. Physicians and other health care providers at religiously-restricted hospitals are unable to fulfill their duty to their patients by explaining and offering a full range of treatment options.

This trend is threatening patients’ rights to complete and accurate medical information and is hindering their access to a full range of health care services and choices. Reproductive health services, HIV/AIDS care, infertility services and end-of-life choices are among the medical services that are most frequently affected by religiously-based health care restrictions.

Working to Protect Patients’ Rights

The MergerWatch Project is working to protect patients’ rights to make treatment decisions based on complete, accurate medical advice and the patient’s own religious or ethical beliefs, without interference from institutional religious doctrine or individual providers’ moral beliefs.

We seek to harness the collective power of a broad-based coalition of consumer groups, health care providers and public policymakers to advocate for the following protections:

• Protecting patients’ rights to informed consent, made with knowledge of all potential treatment options (including those prohibited by a health provider due to religious policies).
• Requiring advance disclosure to patients of any religiously-based policies that restrict patients’ access to medical information or services at hospitals, health systems and clinics, or in the coverage offered by health insurers.
• Requiring provision of needed services in cases of emergency or when no alternative provider exists, even if the service conflicts with institutional religious doctrine.
• Requiring timely referrals to alternate providers for non-emergency care when institutional religious policies forbid the provision of needed services.
• Requiring that hospitals and nursing homes honor patients’ health care proxies and advance directives or disclose in advance any restrictions on honoring the patient’s wishes. When a patient’s wishes conflict with hospital policy, the hospital or nursing home should be prepared to arrange a transfer to an alternative facility that is located within a reasonable geographic distance and will accept the patient’s health insurance coverage.