PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 111 SECTION 70E OF THE GENERAL LAWS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. AN ACT PROVIDING CERTAIN RIGHTS TO PATIENTS AND RESIDENTS IN CLINICS AND HEALTH CENTERS (Approved May 23, 1979; Amended 1989) EVERY PATIENT OF THIS HEALTH CENTER SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT:

(a) upon request, to obtain from the facility in charge of his/her care the name and specialty, if any, of the physician or other person responsible for his/her care or the coordination of his/her care;

(b) to confidentiality of all records and communications to the extent provided by law;

(c) to have all reasonable request responded to promptly and adequately within the capacity of the facility;

(d) upon request, to obtain an explanation as to the relationship, if any, of the facility to any other health center facility or educational institution insofar as said relationship relates to his/her care or treatment;

(e) to obtain from a person designated by the facility a copy of any rules or regulations of the facility which apply to his/her conduct as a patient or resident;

(f) upon request, to receive from a person designated by the facility any information which the facility has available relative to financial assistance and free health care;

(g) upon request, to inspect his/her medical records and to receive a copy thereof in accordance with section seventy, and the fee for said copy shall be determined by the rate of copying expenses;

(h) to refuse to be examined, observed, or treated by students or any other facility staff without jeopardizing access to psychiatric, psychological, or other medical care and attention;

(i) to refuse to serve as a research subject and to refuse any care or examination when the primary purpose is educational or informational rather than therapeutic;

(j) to privacy during medical treatment or other rendering of care within the capacity of the facility;

(k) to prompt life saving treatment in an emergency without discrimination on account of economic status or source of payment and without delaying treatment for purposes of prior discussion of the source of payment unless such delay can be imposed without material risk to his/her health, and this right shall also extend to those persons not already patients or residents of a facility if said facility has a certified emergency care unit;

(l) to informed consent to the extent provided by law;

(m) upon request to receive a copy of an itemized bill or other statement of charges submitted to any third party by the facility for care of the patient or resident and to have a copy of said itemized bill or statement sent to the attending physician of the patient or resident; and

(n) if refused treatment because of economic status or the lack of a source for payment, to prompt and safe transfer to a facility which agrees to receive and treat such patient. Said facility refusing to treat such patient shall be responsible for: ascertaining that the patient may be safely transferred; contacting a facility willing to treat such patient; arranging the transportation; accompanying the patient with necessary and appropriate professional staff to assist in the safety and comfort of the transfer, assure that the receiving facility assumes the necessary care promptly, and provide pertinent medical information about the patient’s condition; and maintaining records of the foregoing.

(o) upon request, to obtain an explanation as to the relationship, if any, of the physician to any other health care facility or educational institutions insofar as said relationship relates to his/her care or treatment, and such explanation shall include said physician’s ownership or financial interest, if any, in the facility or other health care facilities insofar as said ownership relates to the care or treatment of said patient or resident;

(p) upon request to receive an itemized bill including third party reimbursements paid toward said bill, regardless of the sources of payment;

(q) in the case of a patient suffering from any form of breast cancer, to complete information on all alternative treatments which are medically viable;

(r) in the case of a maternity patient, at the time of pre-admission, to complete information from an admitting hospital on its annual rate of primary caesarian sections, annual rate of repeat caesarian sections, annual rate of total caesarian sections, annual percentage of women who have had a caesarian section who have had subsequent successful vaginal births, annual percentage of deliveries in birthing rooms and labor-delivery-recovery or labor-delivery-recovery-postpartum rooms, annual percentage of deliveries by certified nurse-midwives, annual percentage which were continuously externally monitored only, annual percentage which were monitored both internally and externally, annual percentages utilizing intravenous, inductions, augmentation, forceps, episiotomies, spinals, epidurals, and general anesthesia, and its annual percentage of women breast-feeding upon discharge from said hospital.

ANY PERSON WHOSE RIGHTS UNDER THIS SECTION ARE VIOLATED MAY BRING, IN ADDITION TO ANY OTHER ACTION ALLOWED BY LAW OR REGULATION, A CIVIL ACTION UNDER SECTIONS SIXTY B TO SIXTY E, INCLUSIVE, OF CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE.