Rights & duties of our patients and women who have recently given birth

The law gives you the right to careful treatment and care that
Respects and honours your human dignity. Your treatment and care must be
in accordance with the recognised principles of medical science. It
must - within the framework of the circumstances - be appropriate to your health and personal needs.

You are entitled to these standards everywhere in our hospital, regardless of the hospital class.
You can therefore assume that the doctors and nursing staff and all hospital employees
staff and all hospital employees in general will endeavour to promote and maintain your health and well-being
To promote and maintain your health and well-being.

You have the right to be informed by your doctor in a simple and comprehensible manner
about your state of health, the probable course of your illness and the planned
planned treatment measures. This also includes information
about the benefits and risks of the planned treatment, especially in the case of diagnostic
Measures or surgical interventions.

As a rule, this takes place during the preliminary consultation before admission to hospital. You
also have the right to a confidential discussion out of earshot of third parties.

According to the law, no interventions of any kind may be carried out on your body against your express will. However, for simple and generally harmless procedures (e.g. blood sampling), the patient's consent is presumed. For more extensive procedures or procedures involving increased risks, however, the patient's express consent is required - after the patient has been informed. For this purpose, the doctor may ask you to sign an authorisation form
Power of attorney for this purpose. In principle, it is assumed that you have come to the hospital to have the procedure agreed with the doctor. You are therefore free to decide whether you wish to have a particular procedure performed on yourself. In the same sense, you can also request that your life is not artificially preserved or prolonged in a hopeless situation. In this case, it is advisable to draw up a so-called patient's will (living will) at an early stage. If you only wish to draw one up in hospital, your doctor or carer will be happy to help you if you wish.

The new Adult Protection Act came into force on 1 January 2013. According to this law, you can record in a living will which medical measures you agree or disagree with in the event of your incapacity to judge. This living will is generally binding for doctors and nursing staff unless there is doubt that it corresponds to your wishes or it contravenes legal regulations.

In the living will, you can also designate a natural person to represent you in medical decisions in the event of incapacity of judgement. If you do not have a living will and have not designated a person to make decisions on your behalf, your relatives (spouse, descendants, etc.) will act as your legal representatives. They must then make decisions in accordance with your presumed wishes and interests.

In the absence of both a living will and a person authorised to represent you, the adult protection authority will set up a proxy guardianship. In urgent cases, the doctor decides - also in accordance with your presumed wishes and interests.

The right to self-determination and information may be restricted or even cancelled if immediate action is necessary (e.g. life-saving measures). If, during an operation, it becomes unforeseeable that it is urgently necessary to extend the operation beyond what has been discussed with the patient, the doctor is authorised to do so if interrupting the operation would involve considerable risks. In such a case, the doctor must base his/her decision solely on the interests of the patient and his/her presumed wishes.

It is important for your well-being and recovery that you maintain contact with relatives, friends and acquaintances.

You therefore have the right to receive visitors within the allotted time. However, the visiting times are set so generously that it may be necessary to interrupt or prematurely terminate the visit if the clinic's operations so require. We are thinking in particular of doctor's visits, examinations and medical and nursing procedures. We are grateful to your visitors if they comply with any requests from the nursing staff or doctor.

Conversely, you can restrict your visitors on your own initiative or even have individual visitors who you do not wish to see turned away. However, you should inform your carer of such wishes in good time, who will assist you as far as possible.

The doctor can restrict or temporarily cancel your visiting hours if this is in your own best interests for medical reasons. Obvious abuse of visiting rights could also give rise to restrictions.

Bring your wishes, suggestions or criticism to the attention of the hospital management. You can also contact the doctor or nurse directly.

In some cases, experience has shown that a brief discussion on the spot is enough to clarify the situation or resolve a grievance. If such efforts to reach an amicable settlement do not bear fruit or if you have the impression that you are not being understood, you can make an actual complaint to the hospital management. In liability matters, you should contact the hospital management, whereby you naturally reserve the right to take legal action.

Your right to be fully informed and informed about your state of health by your doctor is offset by your own duty to provide information. In order for the doctor to be able to assess your condition as accurately as possible, he/she is dependent on you providing complete and detailed information relating to your physical and mental state. Do not conceal anything unpleasant or embarrassing if it could be of medical importance. Describe your observations about the effect and success of the treatment to the doctor and nursing staff as precisely as possible.

Your right to careful examination, treatment and care corresponds to your moral duty to do everything in your power to promote your healing and recovery. This may also include your willingness to refrain from lifestyle habits that are detrimental to your health.

According to the law, every patient must pay for the costs of treatment and care within the framework of the applicable tariff regulations, insofar as these costs are not covered by health insurance. This warranty obligation is his/her personal responsibility.

Your duties also include observing the hospital's guidelines. Compliance with these is necessary for a sensible and orderly operation and daily routine. However, it is also necessary to respect the rights of other patients and hospital staff. We are thinking in particular of the consideration required with regard to listening to the radio, watching television, smoking, visiting times, admission and discharge times, rest periods and the like.

Sexual harassment is prohibited. It will be sanctioned.

Training in the fields of nursing and physiotherapy has a long tradition at Bethesda Hospital. Please bear in mind that the development of trainees' practical skills is only possible if they are also practice-orientated. It goes without saying that the trainees are supervised in their work by experienced staff and that they are subject to the same strict duty of confidentiality as the hospital staff.

If you suffer an injury in hospital that is attributable to the fault of a hospital employee, the hospital is liable, and possibly also the person who caused the injury directly. Whether liability exists depends on the circumstances of the individual case. Any specific liability claims should be addressed to the hospital management, which is also generally available to advise you in such matters.
Any liability claims against the attending physician should be addressed directly to him/her.