Consider that the average American reads at an eighth-grade reading level.
That’s a problem when you consider how complicated and dense the actual Patients’ Bill of Rights one typically receives at health care institutions.
There is no federal bill of rights, so the document’s complexity can vary by state. A recent study showed that almost half of the states’ bills required a level equivalent to two years of college. Also, they tended only to be present in English.
So, given these problems, the authors of the study commented that “the implementation of this particular part of that patients’ rights movement has been a failure, because patients are not activated or empowered by these documents.”
Although patients cannot be expected to understand the legalese that often confronts them, the language needs to be simple and clear enough for them to understand their rights within the health care system.
Related posts:
- Circumcision and the rights of baby boys
- Patient rights
- Virginia Tech: When should patients’ rights be sacrificed?
- The Patients’ Bill of Responsibilities
- A Bill of Rights for drug reps?
- Bill Gates and the real, physician world
- Doctors asking patients to pay more of their bill up front
{ 3 comments }
Like laws and regulations everywhere, they are written to the level of those writing them. The poor state of reading skills is another matter entirely, and it is amazing that this can persist in spite of the many initiatives to remedy it.
Chuck Brooks
FutureWare SCG
where is the provider’s bill of rights??
“Where is the provider’s bill of rights??” – Anon 8:36
It’s the consent form a patient has to sign before any medical procedure. In my hospital it is 8 pages of fine print which a clerk hands the patient to sign just minutes before being prepped for the operation.
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