Patient Rights Law, 5756-1996

The purpose of this Law is to determine the rights of a person seeking medical treatment or receiving medical treatment and to protect his dignity and privacy.

In this Law —

"temporary decision-maker approval" means a written approval given under section 14a;

"hospital" has the meaning ascribed to it in section 24 of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940;

"ethics committee" means a committee established under section 24;

"emergency room" means a place intended for the provision of urgent medical treatment that is staffed by at least one physician, and which the Director General has recognised as an emergency room for the purposes of this Law;

"Legal Capacity Law" means the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law, 5722-1962;

"medical treatment" includes acts of medical diagnosis, preventive medical treatment, psychological treatment or nursing treatment;

"medical institution" means a hospital or clinic;

"patient" means a sick person and any person seeking or receiving medical treatment;

"practitioner" means a physician, dentist, physician associate, intern, male or female nurse, midwife, psychologist, occupational therapist, physiotherapist, communication clinician, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical criminologist, podologist, podiatrist, surgical podiatrist, chiropractor, medical imaging technologist, and also any professional whom the Director General has recognised, by notice in Reshumot (Official Gazette), as a practitioner in health services;

"medical information" means information that relates directly to the physical or mental health condition of a patient or to his medical treatment;

"attorney" means an attorney appointed by the patient under section 16, in accordance with the provisions of the Legal Capacity Law, in a continuing power of attorney for personal matters that also includes his health matters, or in a medical power of attorney as defined in section 32o of that Law, which is valid pursuant to the provisions of that Law or pursuant to a power of attorney executed before the fifteenth day of Nisan 5777 (11 April 2017) that has not yet expired;

"midwife" means a person licensed to practise midwifery under the Midwifery Ordinance;

"Director General" means the Director General of the Ministry of Health;

"manager of a medical institution" includes a person acting in his stead;

"medical emergency" means circumstances in which a person faces an immediate danger to his life, or there is an immediate danger that a person will suffer irreversible severe disability, if he is not given urgent medical treatment;

"temporary decision-maker" means a person who holds an approval to serve as a temporary decision-maker in respect of the medical treatment of an adult patient under section 14a;

"occupational therapist", "physiotherapist", "communication clinician", "dietitian-nutritionist", "clinical criminologist", "podologist", "podiatrist", "surgical podiatrist", "chiropractor", "physician associate", "medical imaging technologist" have the meanings ascribed to them in the Regulation of Practice in Health Professions Law, 5768-2008;

"clinic" has the meaning ascribed to it in section 34 of the Public Health Ordinance, 1940, in which medical treatment is provided by at least five practitioners;

"intern" has the meaning ascribed to it in Chapter II-A of the Physicians Ordinance [New Version], 5737-1976;

"grave danger" means circumstances in which a person faces a danger to his life, or there is a danger that a person will suffer irreversible severe disability, if he is not given medical treatment;

"social worker" has the meaning ascribed to it in the Social Workers Law, 5756-1996;

"psychologist" means a person registered in the Register of Psychologists under the Psychologists Law, 5737-1977;

"health fund" has the meaning ascribed to it in the National Health Insurance Law, 5754-1994;

"physician" means a person licensed to practise medicine under the Physicians Ordinance [New Version], 5737-1976;

"specialist physician" means a physician holding a specialist title under the Physicians Ordinance [New Version], 5737-1976;

"dentist" means a person licensed to practise dentistry under the Dentists Ordinance [New Version], 5739-1979;

"medical record" means information under section 17 that is documented by way of writing or photography, or in any other manner, including the patient's medical file in which medical documents concerning him are held;

"the Minister" means the Minister of Health.

A patient is entitled to receive proper medical treatment, both in terms of the professional standard and medical quality, and in terms of human relations.

A patient is entitled to obtain, on his own initiative, a second opinion regarding his treatment; the practitioner and the medical institution shall assist the patient in all that is required for the exercise of this right.

Where a patient passes from one practitioner to another or from one medical institution to another, the patient shall be entitled, upon his request, to the cooperation of the practitioners and medical institutions involved in his medical treatment, for the purpose of ensuring the proper continuity of the treatment.

A patient who is hospitalised in a medical institution may receive visitors at times and in accordance with arrangements determined by the manager of the medical institution.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 13 —

"convicted" — including a defendant whom the court has found to have committed the offence, or whom the court found to have performed the act of the offence under section 15(b) of the Treatment of Mental Patients Law, 5751-1991;

"criminal proceedings are ongoing" — commencing with the filing of an indictment and so long as the defendant has not been acquitted of the offences listed in the Second Schedule with which he was charged, or the court has not found that he did not commit the said offences, or there has been no withdrawal of the charge;

"sexual or violent offence" — an offence listed in the Second Schedule.