Rights and obligations of the patient and relatives

The patient has the right to:

• familiarize themselves with their medical records, stored both in paper and electronic form;
• request to contact them via certain means of communication and at certain times;
• limit the list of persons who are allowed access to their medical information.

In addition, the general rights and obligations of the patient are governed by the Law on the Fundamentals of the Legislation of Ukraine on Health Care. Pursuant to the Law:

The patient has the following rights:

• The right to free choice of a medical officer if the latter can offer their services and make therapeutic decisions in accordance with their recommendations.
• The right to receive accurate and complete information about their medical condition, as well as to familiarize themselves with relevant medical documents relating to their medical condition.
• The right to informed consent regarding the use of diagnostics, prevention and treatment methods, including the right to refuse treatment.
• The right to secrecy about their medical condition, the fact of seeking medical help, diagnosis, including information obtained during their medical examination.
• The right of a patient who undergoes inpatient treatment in a health care institution to be visited by other medical officers, family members, guardian, trustee, notary and lawyer, as well as a priest for the administration of worship and religious ceremony.
• The right to compensation for harm caused to health.
• The right to challenge unlawful decisions and actions of health care workers, institutions and public health authorities.

The patient has the following obligations:

• The obligation to follow medical prescriptions of the doctor.
• The obligation to comply with the internal regulations of the health care institution.

Failure to comply with the above requirements gives the doctor the right to refuse further patient care if the patient fails to comply with medical regulations or the internal regulations of the health care institution, provided that this does not threaten the life of the patient and the health of population. The attending physician is not responsible for the patient’s health if the patient refuses medical prescriptions or violates the prescribed regimen.