Patient rights

• The patient is entitled to a high standard of expert care in accordance with current medical knowledge and with all due respect for his personal life, worldview and philosophical or religious convictions.
• The patient is also entitled to treatment aimed at alleviating pain.
• The patient is entitled to a free choice of practitioner and also has the right to change this choice, subject in both cases to the restrictions imposed by the law.
• The patient has the right to be treated with professional confidentiality by all the persons directly or indirectly concerned in his care, including after death. This duty of confidentiality also covers respect for all aspects of private life.
• The patient is entitled to humane treatment and the exercise of discretion during examinations and treatment.
• The patient is entitled to know the name and position of the treating physician and of the various members of the team providing his care.
• The patient has the right, on simple request, to have all the available documents and reports transferred to a doctor from whom the patient would like a second opinion.
• The patient has the right to information over the necessity or desirability of transfer to another department within the Ghent University Hospital or to another institution.
• The patient is entitled to information, in a language he can understand, regarding the state of his health, diagnosis, tests, treatment and prognosis except where very urgent circumstances do not permit. No care or treatment may be carried out without the informed, prior and freely given consent of a patient who is capable of giving such consent. The patient is entitled to withdraw this consent at any time. He is also entitled to leave the hospital against the advice of the treating physician. In these cases the hospital patient will sign a declaration to the effect that the possible medical consequences have been explained to him.
• The patient has the right not to be informed. The patient may appoint a trusted person either in writing or verbally to whom information can be given. The doctor can withhold information if this would obviously have a seriously detrimental effect on the patient's health, and provided that the doctor has first consulted a colleague in the matter, unless the patient has explicitly expressed the wish to be told the truth even under those circumstances.
• The patient is entitled to continuity of care. This means that when he is discharged from hospital, the referring doctor must be informed about the treatment carried out or proposed.
• The patient is entitled to inspect his patient file directly. When doing so, the patient may be accompanied or represented by a person of his choice.
• On payment, the patient is entitled to an extract from his patient file.
• The patient personally, and his parents or guardians, are entitled to make a complaint to the hospital Ombudsman on 09 332 52 34.
• The patient is entitled to enter an appeal with the Federal Commission for patient's rights and with the Flemish Ombudsman if a complaint is not handled satisfactorily.