Respectful Conduct Policy
Last updated August 9, 2023
Patient’s Rights:
The right to be treated with respect, consideration, dignity, and compassion without discrimination as guaranteed by the Ontario Human Rights Code.
The right to receive clear and complete information about your medical diagnosis and treatment.
The right to participate in all decisions about your treatment and ask questions about any part of the plan of care that you do not understand.
The right to accept or refuse any medication or treatment and to be informed of the likely consequences of doing so.
The right to privacy and confidentiality of all information and records regarding your care.
The right to make a complaint through channels provided for this purpose by clinic management and to have any complaint dealt with fairly and within 30 days.
Patient Responsibilities:
To ask about things that concern them or that they do not understand
To follow the treatment plan, as outlined by your health care practitioner, including the instructions of nurses and health personnel
To keep appointments, and when unable to do so, to notify the clinic with sufficient time to reschedule
To be accountable for your actions if you refuse treatment or do not follow health care practitioner's instructions
To treat all HFC staff with respect,
To refrain from:
Intimidating or harassing staff or other patients
Making threatening remarks via phone calls, text messages, voicemail, email or other forms of written, verbal or electronic communication
Physically assaulting or threatening to inflict bodily harm on staff or other patients
Making verbal threats, menacing/derogatory gestures or racial/cultural slurs or other derogatory remarks
To be prepared to work with a variety of health care practitioners and staff in addition to your primary clinical team and physician, regardless of the care provider's race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation
To respect that your care team may need to prioritize their time to deal with emergency or high need situations
To demonstrate sensitivity to fellow fertility patients by not bringing children onsite for your appointment.
Patient acknowledgement:
As a patient of HFC, I acknowledge understanding and acceptance of the following
HFC has on-call model of care within which the on-call physician performs procedures and manages urgent situations. It is, therefore, not possible to refuse care from any physician for any reason and remain a patient of HFC
HFC does not support switching physician care providers within teams (Natural Conception Program or Reproductive Endocrinologist/IVF Teams) as this negatively impacts patient care through disrupted continuity, physician availability and clinical team support
HFC abides by Health Canada Regulations. Some testing and processes are required by Health Canada to proceed with care, and refusal of these requirements will result in the inability of HFC to provide some care services
Physicians have the right to not provide care that is out of their medical scope and/or care that is deemed unacceptably too high risk and/or care that is medically futile
I acknowledge that violation of any of the above will result in my no longer having access to care at HFC.
