Patient Responsibilities and Rights

1. To take care of their own health and lead a healthy lifestyle, avoiding deliberate actions that may harm their own health or the health of others. 
2. To observe precautionary measures in contact with other people, including medical staff, in cases where they are aware that they suffer from a disease that poses a social danger.
3. To undertake, in the absence of medical contraindications, mandatory preventive measures — including immunizations — whose omission endangers their own health and creates a social risk. 
4. To provide complete information to the medical staff regarding past and current illnesses, as well as any diseases that pose a social danger, including when voluntarily donating blood, biological fluids, organs, or tissues.
5. To respect the rules of conduct established for patients within the medical institution, as well as the doctor’s recommendations during outpatient or inpatient treatment.
6. To refrain from using pharmaceutical or medicinal products without the prescription and approval of the attending physician, including drugs, other psychotropic substances, and alcohol during treatment in the medical institution. 
7. To respect the rights and dignity of other patients, as well as the medical and healthcare personnel.

1. The right to free medical assistance within the scope established by law.
2. The right to respectful and humane treatment from healthcare providers, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, political or religious beliefs.
3. The right to personal security and to physical, psychological, and moral integrity, with full respect for privacy during medical care. 
4. The right to relief of suffering and alleviation of pain caused by illness and/or medical intervention, through all legal methods and means available, as determined by the current level of medical science and the healthcare provider’s capabilities. 
5. The right to a second medical opinion and to receive recommendations from other specialists, upon request by the patient or their legal representative (close relative), as provided by law.
6. The right to medical insurance (both mandatory and voluntary), in accordance with the legislation. 
7. The right to information about the healthcare provider — its profile, scope, quality, cost, and methods of service delivery. 
8. The right to examination, treatment, and care under conditions that meet sanitary and hygienic standards. 
9. The right to complete information regarding one’s own health, diagnostic and treatment methods, recovery and prevention measures, as well as potential risks and therapeutic effectiveness.
10. The right to full information concerning harmful environmental factors.
11. The right to freely express consent or refusal regarding medical interventions or participation in biomedical research (clinical studies), in accordance with the law. 
12. The right to accept or refuse the performance of religious rituals during hospitalization, provided this does not interfere with the institution’s activity or harm other patients.
13. The right to the assistance of a lawyer or another representative for the protection of one’s interests, as provided by law.
14. The right to be informed about the results of complaints and requests, according to legal procedures. 
15. The right to challenge, through extrajudicial or judicial means, the actions of medical staff or other healthcare providers, as well as officials responsible for ensuring medical assistance and related services, within the limits established by law.
16. The right to terminal care that preserves human dignity.

Patients may be subjected only to those limitations that are compatible with human rights instruments.

The patient’s rights may be limited in the following cases: 

a) Hospitalization and examination of patients with mental disorders, in accordance with Law No. 1402-XIII of December 16, 1997, on psychiatric assistance, taking into account the patient’s request and within the limits of their legal capacity;

b) Mandatory medical examination of persons who voluntarily donate blood, biological fluids, organs, or tissues; carrying out preliminary and periodic mandatory medical examinations for workers in certain professions, immigrants, and emigrants, as approved by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection;

c) Mandatory medical examination for the detection of HIV/AIDS, syphilis, and tuberculosis among persons in penitentiaries;

d) Mandatory hospitalization and isolation (quarantine) of persons affected by contagious diseases or suspected of having an infectious disease that poses a public danger.