It's hard not to feel vulnerable when visiting a doctor or staying in a hospital. After all, the people caring for you, the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health care providers do have your health in their hands. But you do have medical rights – and asserting your medical rights is one means of making sure you get the best care possible.

According to the American Hospital Association these include:

• The right to considerate and respectful care.

• The right to get complete, up-to-date information about diagnosis, treatment and prognosis from your physician in terms that you can reasonably be expected to understand.

• The right to get enough information about any proposed treatment or procedure to make informed consent – meaning that you should know enough about the expected benefits, possible hazards and time needed for recovery to decide if you want the treatment or procedure.

•The right to refuse treatment and to be advised of the possible medical consequences of doing so.

•The right to every consideration of privacy concerning your own medical care program. Case discussion, consultation, examination and treatment are confidential and should be conducted discreetly.

•The right to expect all communications and records concerning your care be treated as confidential.

•The right to a reasonable response to your request for services.

•The right to know if the hospital plans to engage in any human experimentation that might affect your care or treatment. You have the right to refuse to participate in such research projects.

• The right to expect reasonable continuity of care. You have the right to know in advance what appointment times and physicians are available, as well as the location for follow-up visits.

• The right to be informed about continuing health care requirements after discharge.

• The right to examine and receive an explanation of your bill regardless of whether it’s paid by you or another source.

• The right to know what hospital rules and regulations apply to your conduct as a patient.

While these guidelines are generally handed out to patients when they enter a hospital, they are also good guidelines to follow for general non-hospitalized medical care such as a visit to your doctor.