Policy on a Patient's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Purpose The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recognizes that pediatric oral health care should be rendered under conditions that are acceptable to both patient and dentist. The expectation is that oral health care providers, their staff, and patients/parents will support this policy, thereby enhancing patient care. Methods This policy is based on a systematic literature search of the MEDLINE/PubMed ® electronic database using the following parameters: Terms: patient freedoms, patient's Bill of Rights, Bill of Rights, Consumer Bill of Rights; Fields: all; Limits: within the last 10 years and English. Eighty-one articles met these criteria. Papers for review were chosen from this list and from the references within selected articles. Documents of health care and public policy organizations relating to the concept of patient rights and responsibilities also were reviewed.