Your rights

You are entitled to receive clear information from those treating you about :

• your state of health
• possible treatments and interventions along with their benefits and risks
• the guarantee of reimbursement of your treatment by compulsory basic health insurance.

Do not hesitate to ask questions so you can make a decision based on all the information available. If you wish, a close friend or relative may accompany you. On request, you will receive a written summary of the explanations. You can also request a second opinion from a doctor who is external to the hospital.

You also have the right to waive receipt of the information and in this case you must express this clearly.

No care can be given to you without your free and informed consent. This policy applies to every person with the capacity of discernment, in other words the capacity to understand their situation, assess the implications of it and make their own decision. You also have the right to refuse any care, to interrupt your treatment and to leave the hospital. In such a case the HUG teams will inform you of the risks linked to this decision and that you assume personal responsibility for them. You shall be requested to confirm your decision in writing.

If you do not have capacity to express your wishes, the doctor will try to find out if you have provided Your rights 19 a Living Will or designated a treatment representative who may act your behalf as to the continuation of your treatment. If you have not designated a treatment representative, the doctor must contact your close friends and relatives in accordance with a determined legal order to propose a treatment plan to be decided jointly. However, in an emergency, the doctor alone will decide on the best possible treatment for you.

This stipulates the medical treatment and care for which you have provided your consent in the event that you no longer have a capacity for discernment. The creation of a Living Will must meet some specific conditions. You may change or cancel these at any time. You make it accessible by incorporating them into your computerized medical file.

If you want to open an electronic patient file, go to www.cara.ch or talk to your medical and care team.

If you experience communication difficulties during your hospital stay, the Mediation Unit :

• gives you the chance to express them
• facilitates communication and gives you the chance to reset your dialogue with the institution
• explains your concerns in more detail with health professionals through better information and mutual understanding
• raises the awareness of the medical and care team of your hospital experience
• involves you in the improvement and quality of care.

This listening space is also open to your close friends and relatives : www.hug.ch/en/mediation-unit

The HUG offers spiritual and religious welfare. On request, chaplains can offer you respectful support for your spiritual or religious needs, also for your close friends and relatives. This support provides a presence and active listening through visits and conversations along with religious services and rituals. Whether you are a believer or not you may ask a member of the care staff at any time if you would like to meet a spiritual chaplain. If you wish to meditate, reflect or pray, a contemplation space (Opéra building, Maternity unit, Beau-Séjour hospital, Trois-Chêne hospital, Psychiatric hospital, Joli-Mont clinic) and a chapel (Opéra building, Psychiatric hospital, Loëx hospital , Bellerive Hospital) are available to you.

A restraint measure is a temporary provision that prevents you from moving and walking about freely. The doctor may take this measure if your behavior is a danger to your security, your health or that of other people. You have the right, as do your close friends and relatives or your treatment or legal representative, to oppose this or request that it is lifted. This request must be addressed to the Court of Protection of the Adult and the Child.

(*) Psychiatric Hospital operates differently

All information that you entrust to the medical and care team is protected by professional confidentiality. The team do not have the right to provide information to other people nor to allow your file to be consulted without your consent.

If you want to consult your HUG medical file or if you want an external health professional to the HUG to do so, you can access it via the electronic patient file or send a request to your hospital doctor. He or she is available to you if you want its content explained. You may request a copy of items from the file.

Your medical treatment may give rise to ethical or moral questions. The medical team in your unit may, where required, request the advice of the HUG Clinical Ethics Council. You and your close friends and relatives may also consult this body.

As a university hospital, the HUG undertakes many clinical studies. These aim to improve treatment quality and safety. If you asked to participate in a specific study, you are free to accept or reject any offer of participation in such a study.

With the aim of contributing to progress in research you may give your consent for the reuse of data linked to your health and of your biological samples. Your data may be made available to the scientific community, following agreement from the Cantonal Research Ethics Committee, in a coded format (non-identifiable) in order to respect the confidentiality principle. This agreement does not trigger any additional medical action and you may revoke your consent at any time.

The HUG participates actively in the fight against cancer. As part of this process, diagnostics of tumorous diseases are transmitted automatically to the Geneva Tumor Register according to the framework specified by law. If you do not want your data to be registered, you must notify the Geneva Tumor Register according of this in writing.

(*) Only for the Lina Stern, Gustave Julliard and Maternity buildings

We sometimes need to enlist specialist outsourcers, in particular, laboratories, for some examinations. In such a case your data will be transmitted to the respective outsourcer. The medical team is always available to you should you want to ask any questions you may have in this regard.

(*) Psychiatric Hospital operates differently