A comparative review of patient's bill of rights in selected countries and proposing a proper solution for Iran

In health care, emphasis on Basic Human Rights is specially important. Patient’s privacy protection becomes important when the human is exposed to shortcomings of social and health systems. It seems that in health and treatment services the «Patient’s Bill of Rights» has been ignored to the extent that the patients have no information about their rights. Recently «Patient’s Bill of Rights» compiled by Iranian Ministry of Health, which has a lot of shortcomings, was published. To propose a complete «Patient’s Bill of Rights» for our country, it seemed necessary to study «Patient’s Bill of Rights» in some developed countries. This research was a comparative and descriptive case study. Research population included the U. S. A (States of New York, Florida, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas), England, France, Canada and Iran. Data gathering was done through internet and e-mail. Findings of research showed that patients’ rights of accessibility to treatment and health care, privacy, consent for treatment and protection (the Right of Claim) were included in «Patient’s Bill of Rights» of all the countries under investigation, except Iran. The Right of Confidentiality is considered in all studied countries. The Rights of Having Translator and Pain Relief just were seen in some states of the U. S. A. The appropriate solutions were suggested for «Patient’s Bill of Rights» in Iran.