You have certain rights as both a patient and a visitor in a hospital. 

Medical care

You have the right to:

• Receive emergency medical care. No hospital can turn you away on the basis that you cannot pay for treatment. On January 1, 2024, a new law will take effect that says your emergency room treatment cannot be delayed to ask about your insurance status or form of payment.
• Request  to be referred or transferred to another healthcare facility 
• Receive care without discrimination by any medical staff.  The only exception to this is if the healthcare facility you are visiting has protocols in place to prevent the spread of Covid and you are refusing to comply. 
• Refuse treatment. 
• Be treated with respect and dignity. 
• Have your privacy protected.
• Have your beliefs and values respected. 
• Have your spiritual needs and your family’s spiritual needs met. 
• Ask and talk about the ethics of your care. This includes deciding if you want to be revived (or receive other life-saving treatment) if you stop breathing. 
• Have your wishes about organ donation followed. 

Communication

You have the right to...

• Be informed of the name of your doctor.
• To privacy and confidentiality when it comes to your medical records, unless the law says otherwise.
• Information about your condition as well as the risks and benefits of your treatment options in a timely manner. 
• Request copies of medical records be sent to yourself, another health care professional, or another health care facility without undue delay. 
• Give your consent, or refuse, to be in any research program or experimental procedure, unless you are in a life-threatening emergency.
• Get information about the possible consequences of the experiment if you are the subject of a research program or experimental procedure. 
• Conduct private telephone conversations with family and friends unless your doctor determines that it would put your health in danger.
• Send and receive mail unless your doctor determines that it would put your health in danger.
• Receive treatment and information in your preferred language. Hospitals must make arrangements for an interpreter or bilingual professional staff to ensure adequate and speedy communication. 

During your stay

You have a right to…

• Receive visitors unless either the hospital does not allow any visitor or your doctor determines that visitation would put your health in danger. The hospital can also limit your visits to 1 person if there is a health emergency, like the Covid pandemic. 

Payments

You have a right to…

• Receive a reasonable explanation of your total bill for healthcare services, including the itemized charges for specific services received. 
• Call, write, or email to ask about or dispute your hospital bill. 
• Apply for financial assistance under the hospital's financial assistance policy, even if you don’t have insurance. 
• Be given the opportunity to start a reasonable payment plan within 30 days following the date of your first hospital bill. This goes for both insured and uninsured patients. Only if you fail to agree to a plan, then the hospital may refer a bill or a portion of the bill to a collection agency or attorney for collection against you. 
• Receive your medical bill within 180 days (approximately 6 months) of the day you were discharged. If you received services through Medicare or Medicaid, you have the right to receive your medical bill within 24 months from the date of service.  
• Not pay surprise charges for out-of-network provider services under certain circumstances. Learn more about the No Surprises Act.

Learn more about the Fair Patient Billing Act.

Starting July 1, 2024, hospitals will need to check to see if patients without insurance can get help through public health insurance or the hospital itself. Before a hospital tries to get money through a collection action, they must check to see if uninsured patients could qualify for help. If an uninsured patient does not want to apply for public health insurance because of immigration-related concerns, the hospital can tell them about free resources to help with their concerns. 

Pregnancy and childbirth

You have a right to…

• Choose a certified nurse midwife or physician as your maternity care professional.
• Leave your maternity care professional and select another if you are unsatisfied with your care, except as otherwise provided by law.
• Receive information about the names those health care professionals involved in your care.
• Privacy and confidentiality of records, except as provided by law.
• Receive information concerning your condition and proposed treatment, including methods of relieving pain.
• Accept or refuse any treatment, to the extent medically possible.
• Be informed if your provider wants to include you or your infant in a research study.
• Access your medical records.
• Receive information in your preferred language.
• Decide collaboratively with caregivers when you and the baby will leave the birth site for home, based on their conditions and circumstances.
• Be treated with respect at all times before, during, and after pregnancy by your health care professionals.

Parent or guardian to a minor

You have the right to…

• Give or refuse consent for the minor’s general health care, with one exception as listed below.
• Receive notification 48 hours prior to a minor’s abortion procedure. This requirement may be waived if there is a court order to waive it or if the minor is a victim of abuse. 
• Give or refuse consent for the administration of the HPV Vaccine to the minor. 
• Give or refuse consent for the minor’s to access hormone replacement therapy. 

Please note that protective orders for a minor in Illinois require someone 18+ or older, but it does not have to be a parent or guardian.

Your consent as a parent or guardian is not required by law for…

• General health care if a minor is married, pregnant, or a parent, 
• Adoption of the minor’s child, 
• Minor’s abortion procedure, 
• Safe haven abandonment, 
• Minor’s purchase of Plan B One-Step and generic one-pill levonorgestrel over the counter,
• Access to hormonal methods of birth control for minors 12 and older,
• Access STI/HIV testing and treatment for minors 12 and older, 
• Health care at the hospital including treatment for STIs, HIV, and emergency contraception,
• Filing a police report,
• Evidence collection and release,
• Determining of parameters of confidentiality (12 and older), and
• Substance use treatment for a minor 12 and older for inpatient or outpatient. Family involvement or release of information is only allowed with the youth’s consent.

Rights as a minor

As a minor, you have the right to…

• Access accurate, detailed information about your healthcare rights.
• Healthcare that does not discriminate against your race, gender, sexual identity, sexual behavior or perceived sexual behavior, ability, class, or other identities and experiences.
• Be respectfully addressed by your medical provider with the name and pronouns you use.
• Ask medical providers questions and receive honest answers and responses.
• Be informed if or when confidentiality must legally be broken (e.g. - mandatory report) and be included in the process.

Experiencing discrimination at the hospital

If you believe you have been discriminated against on the basis of race, color, or national origin, you can file a grievance, or a complaint, with the hospital. Additionally, you cannot be denied service only on the basis of your HIV status. 

Under Illinois law, the hospital must investigate your claim and work with you to address your concerns. If at the end of this process your claim is still unresolved, the hospital must report it to the Illinois Department of Public Health for investigation.