The Medical System 35
No matter where you go for health care, you should be treated with respect.
All people who care for your health should do their best to provide you with:
1. Access. Everyone who needs medical care should be able to have it. It
should not matter where you live, how much money you have, what your
religion is, how much status you have in the community, the color of your
skin, your political beliefs, or what health problem you have.
2. Information. You should be told about your problem and about what the
different possible treatments mean for you. The person caring for you
should make sure you understand what you need to do to get better, and
how to prevent the problem from happening again.
3. Choice. You should be able to choose whether or not you are treated,
and how. Also, you should be able to choose where to go for treatment.
4. Safety. You should be given the information you need to avoid harmful
side effects or results of treatment. You should also be told how to
prevent dangerous health problems in the future.
5. Respect. You should always be treated with respect and courtesy.
6. Privacy. Things that you say to a doctor, nurse or other health care worker
should not be overheard by others or repeated to anyone else. Exams
should be given in a way that other people cannot see your body. If there
are other people who need to be in the room, you should be told who
they are and why they are there. You have the right to tell them to leave if
you do not want them there.
7. Comfort. You should be made as comfortable as
possible during an exam. You should also have a
good place to wait and not have to wait too long.
8. Follow-up care. If you need more care, you
should be able to go back to the same
person, or be given a written record of
the care you have received to take to
a new doctor, nurse, or health worker.
Can I come back
if I don’t get
better soon?
Where Women Have No Doctor 2012