Every per­son who ac­cess­es pub­lic health care in Trinidad and To­ba­go has cer­tain rights. These rights are set out in the Pa­tients' Char­ter of Rights and Oblig­a­tions of the Min­istry of Health. The fol­low­ing is a sum­ma­ry of your rights as a pa­tient:

Ac­cess to treat­ment

Every in­di­vid­ual re­gard­less of race, re­li­gion, gen­der, na­tion­al ori­gin or so­cial class should be giv­en im­par­tial ac­cess to treat­ment.

Re­spect

You have the right to be treat­ed re­spect­ful­ly by health care providers at all times and un­der all cir­cum­stances.

Con­fi­den­tial­i­ty

You have the right to pri­va­cy with re­spect to your per­son and to in­for­ma­tion.

Per­son­al se­cu­ri­ty

You have the right to ex­pect rea­son­able se­cu­ri­ty and to be as­sured that your per­son­al prop­er­ty will be se­cured.

Free­dom from abuse

You shall be pro­tect­ed from men­tal, sex­u­al and phys­i­cal abuse or the in­ten­tion­al and non- ther­a­peu­tic in­flic­tion of phys­i­cal pain or in­jury.

Iden­ti­ty

You have the right to know the iden­ti­ty and the pro­fes­sion­al po­si­tion of in­di­vid­u­als who are treat­ing you.

In­for­ma­tion

You have the right to re­ceive from the pro­fes­sion­al re­spon­si­ble for your care com­plete cur­rent in­for­ma­tion on your di­ag­no­sis, treat­ment al­ter­na­tives, risk and prog­no­sis.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion

You have the right to ac­cess peo­ple oth­er than hos­pi­tal per­son­nel, through vis­i­tors and through oral and writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tion.

Con­sent

You have the right to be in­formed about and to par­tic­i­pate in the de­ci­sions re­lat­ed to your health and treat­ment.

Con­sul­ta­tions

At your own ex­pense, you have the right to con­sult with a spe­cial­ist and get from him/her a sec­ond opin­ion on the pro­ce­dure pro­posed.

Re­fusal of treat­ment

You have the right to refuse treat­ment or care.

Re­spect for cul­ture and re­li­gion

You have the right your cul­tur­al and/or re­li­gious ex­pres­sions as long as they do not in­ter­fere with the nor­mal ac­tiv­i­ties of the health fa­cil­i­ty.

Com­plaints

You have the right to file a com­plaint if you think your rights have been in­fringed. You al­so have the right to have this com­plaint in­ves­ti­gat­ed and the re­sults com­mu­ni­cat­ed with­in ten days.

Pa­tient's records

You have the right to ac­cess the con­tents of your records.

Par­tic­i­pa­tion in­plan­ning treat­ment

You have the right to par­tic­i­pate in the plan­ning of your health care. This in­cludes the op­por­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss treat­ment and al­ter­na­tives and to in­clude a fam­i­ly mem­ber or oth­er rep­re­sen­ta­tive.

No­ti­fi­ca­tion of­fam­i­ly mem­bers

If you are brought to a fa­cil­i­ty un­con­scious or co­matose or un­able to com­mu­ni­cate, the fa­cil­i­ty shall make rea­son­able ef­forts to con­tact a fam­i­ly mem­ber or the per­son des­ig­nat­ed as your emer­gency con­tact.

Con­ti­nu­ity of care

You have the right to be cared for with rea­son­able reg­u­lar­i­ty and con­ti­nu­ity of staff as­sign­ment as far as pol­i­cy al­lows.Your health fa­cil­i­ty should dis­play in­for­ma­tion on the Pa­tient's Char­ter. Vis­it the Min­istry of Health's Web site to read the full Char­ter of Rights and Oblig­a­tions. Know your rights.