The right to die with dignity, patient privacy rights and access to medical files and technical records are included in a new patients' rights charter set out by the Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly.
The statement of good practice for the public health sector in dealing with patients will act as a framework for investigating all complaints about the sector.
The health sector should be under no illusion but that the Ombudsman "intends to see that the operation of this statement becomes a living reality for patients", O'Reilly warns.
The statement of good practice covers the area of human rights, access to information, patient consent, confidentiality and privacy, provision of care and treatment and safety.
According to the statement, patients have the right to be respected as a human being, to have their physical and mental integrity and privacy respected and to have their moral, cultural values and religious and philosophical convictions respected.
Every patient has the right to be fully informed about their health status, about proposed medical procedures and about alternatives to the proposed procedures, including the effect of non-treatment.
Information must be communicated to the patient in a manner appropriate to their capacity for understanding, minimising the use of unfamiliar technical terminology and if the patient does not speak a common language, some form of interpreting should be available, according to the statement.
Patients have the right to be treated with dignity and the right to humane terminal care.
Patients have the right to be free from harm, have a right to expect that hospitals and health services monitor risk factors on a continuous basis and to expect health professionals accept full responsibility for the safety of all treatment within their control.