“Patients’ Rights” – workshop at the regional meeting and workshop on the application of patients’ rights in cross-border health care Patients’ rights in health care system in Romania Social worker MD Loredana Simion, Romanian Multiple Sclerosis Society

Regulation of patients’ rights in Romania Patient Rights Law, the Law no. 46/2003:  Right to non-discriminatory and high quality healthcare services;  Right to respect;  Right to be informed about the available healthcare services;  Right to be informed about the profesional quality of the providers of medical care;  Right to be informed about the diagnostic, pronostic, medical procedures and side effects; the information should be transmitted in a clear and respectful language;  Right to seek another medical opinion;

Regulation of patients’ rights in Romania II Patient Rights Law, the Law no. 46/2003:  Right to receive a resume of the medical situation after the time of hospitalization;  Right to refuse a medical intervention ( if the healthcare providers consider that a medical intervention is in the best interest of the patient and the legal representative refuses to give its consent, the decision can be taken by a committee of specialist ) ;  Right to privacy;  Right to his personal medical information;  Right of life (in case of pregnancy);  Right to emotional and family support;  Medical or non-medical personnel in health units is not entitled to subject the patient to any form of pressure to cause any reward towards them;  The patients can pay additional payments or donations to the medical specialists;

Implementation the patients’ rights and crucial problems  Incompatibilities and conflicts of interest of staff in public hospitals in Romania (doctors in public hospitals who work or have their own private clinic, doctors who undertake/promote people who are part of family, etc.) ;  Acquisitions in the public healthcare system;  National system of reimbursement of therapies and treatments by the National Health Insurance House.

Regulation of access to health care documentations in Romania  The patient has acces to this documents and they can be found of the web page of the National Health Insurance House (a minus point is the public awareness about these documents) ;  Special regulation in case of death: the right of the family to receive of the information regarding the health condition of the deceased ;  All the medical documents are in the local language and the medical terms are translated to the local language;  Information is brought to the patient attention in their mother tongue or the language they know or, where appropriate, will seek another form of communication;

Enforcement of patients’ rights  Special bodies for the enforcement of patients’ rights:  National Alliance for Rare Diseases;  Romanian Multiple Sclerosis Society;  National Association for Prevention and Combat of Cancer;  Romanian Society for Support of the elderly and sufferers of Alzheimer's disease;  National Association of Protection for Patients, etc.

Quality standards of health care Right to preventive measures; Access, information; Consent; Free choice; Privacy and confidentiality; Respect of patients’ time; Safety; Innovation; Avoidance of unnecessary suffering and pain and personalised treatment.

Current regulation of cross border health care in Romania:  The treatment must me reflected among the health services provided in the package of basic services in Romania;  The treatment can not be offered in Romania during the time period that it is usually necesary for that kind of a treatment, considering the strage of the disease and the progresion of the disease.

Is there a public source of the translation of the medical terms, e.g. International Classification of Diseases, molecules of medications, treatments?  International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, Version for 2007; and  International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification 4th edition (especially by the Health Ministry)

Which rights are the most crucial in your opinion? right to preventive measures, access, information, consent, free choice, privacy and confidentiality, respect of patients’ time, observance of quality standards, safety, innovation, avoidance of unnecessary suffering and pain and personalised treatment, right to complain and to receive compensation.