Patients' rights

A patient's bill of rights is a list of guarantees for those receiving medical care. It may take the form of a law or a non-binding declaration. Typically a patient's bill of rights guarantees patients information, fair treatment, and autonomy over medical decisions, among other rights. In the United States there have been a number of attempts to enshrine a patient's bill of rights in law, including a bill rejected by Congress in 2001.

A patients' bill of rights was considered by the United States Congress in 2001. Its proposed title was the "Bipartisan Patient Protection Act". It was known officially as Senate Bill S.1052 and informally as the "McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Patients' Bill of Rights". The bill was an attempt at providing comprehensive protections to all Americans covered by health insurance plans.

The House of Representatives and Senate passed differing versions of the proposed law. Although both bills would have provided patients key rights, such as prompt access to emergency care and medical specialists, only the Senate-passed measure would provide patients with adequate means to enforce their rights. The Senate's proposal would have conferred a broad array of rights on patients. It would have ensured that patients with health care plans had the right to:

The bill was passed by the US Senate by a vote of 59-36 in 2001, it was then amended by the House of Representatives and returned to the Senate. However, it ultimately failed.

Wendell Potter, former senior executive at Cigna turned whistleblower, has written that the insurance industry has worked to kill "any reform that might interfere with insurers' ability to increase profits" by engaging in extensive and well-funded, anti-reform campaigns. The industry, however, "goes to great lengths to keep its involvement in these campaigns hidden from public view," including the use of "front groups." Indeed, in a successful 1998 effort to kill the Patient Bill of Rights then,

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