Patients’ Rights

12/06/2019

Since 2002, there is a Belgian law defining precisely your rights as a patient. This law also lays the foundation of a good and enduring relationship between the patient and the healthcare practitioner.

In this section, you will find more information about :

What rights do you have as a patient ? And what happens if you cannot exercise these rights ?
The role of the ombudsman services in a hospital or at a mental health care consultation platform. If you are of the opinion that one of your rights as a patient has not been respected by a healthcare practitioner in a hospital or in a specific mental health facility;
The role of the federal ombudsman. If you are of the opinion that one of your rights as a patient has not been respected by a healthcare practitioner from the extramural sector.

Booklet

All the information about patients’ rights have been compiled in a very easily accessible booklet both for patients and healthcare practitioners : “Patients' rights – an invitation to dialogue”.

You can download the booklet.

Campaign

The FPS Public Health has developed a new promotional tool in order to acquaint the public with the law on patients’ rights . A set of 8 videos (in Dutch and in French) about patients’ rights and patients’ cooperation in the relationship with the health care practitioners have been put online. Find out more about

The federal Patients' Rights Commission

This Commission includes representatives of patients, care providers, hospitals and insurance organizations. Its main mission is to give advices to the Public Health Minister on the application of the patients’ rights law. On this page, you will find more informations about the functioning, the qualifications and the publications of this Commission.

More information …

Should you have additional questions about the law and the functioning of the ombudsman services, please contact the Cell Patients’ Rights :

Tel.: +32 (0)2 524 85 20 (NL) and +32 (0)2 524 85 21 (FR)