Skip to nav Skip to content

Patient Rights

You have the right to:

1. Receive kind and respectful care, while also considering your dignity. To be made comfortable, and have health care providers respect your cultural, social, emotional, spiritual, and personal values, beliefs and preferences.

2. Upon request, have a family member or other person of your choice and your own doctor notified if you are admitted to the hospital.

3. Receive reasonable and fair treatment or services without regard to your age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or source of payment.

4. Know what patient support services are available to you; including whether an interpreter is available as well as the availability of pastoral and other spiritual services.

5. Receive information from all health care providers, including medical information, in your preferred language or form of communication at no cost to you. If you have vision, speech, hearing, or cognitive impairments, a method of communication that meets your needs will be provided.

6. Know the names of the doctors performing medical services and the name of the person who is primarily responsible for your care.

7. Receive prompt and reasonable responses to reasonable questions and requests. You may consult with a specialist, at your own request and expense.

8. To be given, upon request, full information and necessary counseling on the availability of known financial resources for your care.

9. Know, upon request and prior to treatment, whether the health care provider or facility accepts the Medicare assignment rate, if you are eligible for Medicare.

10. Receive, upon request, prior to treatment, a reasonable estimate of charges for medical care.

11. Receive information about your health; including diagnosis, planned course of treatment, alternatives, risks, expected and unexpected outcomes, and prognosis, in terms you can understand.

12. Take part in developing and implementing your plan of care.

13. Participate in resolving questions that arise during your care, including issues of conflict resolution, withholding resuscitation, and end of life care.

14. Make decisions regarding your medical care, and receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as you may need in order to give informed consent or to refuse a course of treatment. Except in emergencies, this information shall include a description of the procedure or treatment, the medically significant risks involved, other courses of treatment or non-treatment and the risks involved in each, and the name of the person who will carry out the procedure or treatment.

15. Be told if proposed medical treatment is for purposes of experimental research and either consent or refuse to participate.

16. Give or refuse consent for the hospital to use recordings, films, or other images of you for purposes other than your care.

17. Receive treatment for any emergency medical condition that will get worse if treatment is not provided.

18. Request or refuse treatment, to the extent permitted by law. You do not have the right to demand inappropriate or medically unnecessary treatment. You have the right to leave the hospital, even against the advice of physicians, to the extent permitted by law.

19. Confidentiality of your medical record and the right to access information from it when the medical record is complete.

20. Appropriate assessment and management of your pain. You may request or reject the use of any or all treatment to relieve pain, including opiate medication.

21. Create advance directives, whether inpatient or outpatient. Advance directives allow you to make your preferences known about your health care, and often include designation of a health care surrogate, a living will, and organ donation preferences. Assistance in preparing advance directives is available by contacting the Social Work Office at 813-745-8407.

22. Have your personal privacy respected. Discussion about your case, consultation, examination, and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly. You have the right to be told the reason for the presence of any individual. You have the right to have visitors leave prior to an examination and when treatment issues are being discussed.

23. Keep and use personal clothing or possessions as space permits, unless it affects the right of another patient or is not recommended for documented medical, safety, or programmatic reasons.

24. Confidential treatment of all communications and records about your care and stay in the hospital. You will receive a separate "Notice of Privacy Practices" that explains your privacy rights in detail and how we may use and disclose your protected health information.

25. Receive care in a safe setting, free from mental, physical, sexual, or verbal abuse and neglect, exploitation or harassment. You have the right to access protective and advocacy services, including notifying government agencies of neglect or abuse.

26. Be free from restraints and seclusion used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff.

27. Reasonable continuity of care and to know in advance the time and location of appointments, as well as the identity of the persons providing the care.

28. Be informed by the doctor, or a delegate of the doctor, of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital. Upon your request, a friend or family member may also be provided this information.

29. Receive a complete explanation of needs and alternatives before being transferred to another health care facility.

30. Know hospital rules and policies, including those rules which apply to your conduct.

31. Have a family member, friend or other individual present with you for emotional support during your hospitalization or outpatient visit. You may designate visitors of your choosing if you have decision-making capacity, unless:

1. No visitors are allowed.

2. The facility reasonably determines the presence of a particular visitor would endanger the health or safety of a patient, a member of the staff or other visitor to the facility, or would significantly disrupt the operations of the facility.

3. You have told the health facility staff that you no longer want a particular person to visit. However, a health facility may establish reasonable restrictions upon visitation, including limitations upon the hours of visitation and the number of visitors.

32. Have the person(s) of your choosing involved in your care, treatment, and services decisions to the extent permitted by you or your chosen decision-maker if you’re unable to make decisions.

33. Receive a reasonably clear and understandable itemized bill and, upon request, to have the charges explained.

34. Request a copy of the full text of the Florida Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

35. Be informed of the Cancer Center’s procedures for expressing grievances (complaints) and to express grievances regarding any violation of your rights as set forth in Florida law, through the grievance procedure and the appropriate state licensing agency.

36. File a grievance. If you want to file a grievance with this hospital, you may do so by writing or calling:

Moffitt Cancer Center
12902 Magnolia Drive, MCC-PTREL
Tampa, FL 33612
Phone: 813-745-3808

The grievance committee will review each grievance and provide you with a written response. The written response will contain the name of a person to contact at the hospital, the steps taken to investigate the grievance, the results of the grievance process, and the date of completion of the grievance process. Concerns regarding quality of care or premature discharge will also be referred to the appropriate Utilization and Quality Control Peer Review Organization (PRO).

37. File a complaint against our hospital regardless of whether you use the hospital’s grievance process. Such complaints may be filed by writing or calling:

Agency for Healthcare Administration
2727 Mahan Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308-5407
Phone: 1-888-419-3456

Patient Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

1. Providing complete and correct information, to the best of your knowledge, about your present illness, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, and other matters relating to your health.

2. Reporting changes in your condition and any concerns you may have about your care or safety. Asking questions will help your care team provide you with the best possible care.

3. Following the instructions of your doctor and care team. If you cannot follow your care instructions or do not understand them, you are responsible for telling a member of your care team that you cannot follow or do not understand their instructions.

4. Keeping your appointments and notifying the Cancer Center when you are unable to keep an appointment.

5. Assuring that the financial obligations to the Cancer Center are fulfilled as promptly as possible.

6. Interacting with the hospital staff in a courteous and respectful manner. Please respect the rights and property of hospital staff and other patients. You are also expected to follow hospital rules such as those regarding noise, smoking and visitation.

7. Your actions if you refuse treatment or do not follow your doctor’s or care team’s instructions.

8. Telling the hospital if you have an advance directive. You or your representative should tell the hospital if you have an advance directive. If you have one, please bring a copy to the Admitting Office or outpatient registration. At the time of admission or registration, we will need to know the name of the person you designate to make your health care decisions and the general nature of your preferences for your care. A clinical social worker can help you prepare an advance directive if you have not done so. The Social Work Office can be reached by calling 813-745-8407.

These rights extend to a patient, guardian, or surrogate who is authorized to make decisions on behalf of the patient.