National Pain Foundation's Pain Patient's Bill of Rights

This is from the website of the National Pain Foundation - you can visit their website directly by Clicking Here

1.Patients have a right to proper, respectful, informed and nondiscriminatory pain management and care.


2.Patients have a right to choose and access health care providers who can provide proper, respectful, informed and nondiscriminatory pain management and care.

3.Patients have a right to have their pain managed with collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts.

4.Patients have a right to have their questions and concerns about pain and pain treatments addressed.

5.Patients have a right to ask for and receive a referral to a pain management specialist.

6.Patients have a right to receive accurate and understandable information about their pain, their health, their diagnosis, their prognosis, their treatment, their health care providers and the facilities in which they receive treatment.

7.Patients have the right to receive knowledge and information about all pain treatment options available to them before giving informed consent.

8.Patients have the right to participate in their pain treatment decisions. If patients cannot fully participate in their pain treatment decisions, patients have the right to be represented by conservators including family members and/or guardians.

9.Patients have the right to make informed decisions about their pain treatment.

10.Patients have the right to speak confidentially with their health care providers about their pain conditions and concerns; however, the privacy of this information can be compromised in certain situations such as a workers' compensation claim.

11.Patients have a right to have their pain and the conditions that cause their pain examined regularly and their treatments adjusted for continued or improved pain management.

12.Patients have the right to read and make copies of their health information, pain history and relevant records.

13.Patients have the right to ask their health care provider to amend or correct any information (both pain-related and not) in their health records with the understanding that a health care provider cannot change an original report.

14.Patients have the right to refuse suggested methods of pain treatment.

15.Patients have the right to have their pain-related medical bills and costs explained to them.

16.Patients have the right to complain about or appeal issues related to their pain treatment, health plans, health care personnel and health care facilities.

17.Patients have the right to objective and timely internal and external reviews of any complaint or appeal related to their pain treatment, health plans, health care providers and health care facilities.