My Rights as a Patient You can always revoke a living will. The will can be revoked in several ways: • by writing a letter to the Living Will Register • by expressing this verbally to a healthcare professional • by electronic revocation to the Living Will Register via www.sundhed.dk, if you have a digital signature (NemID). 7. Organ donation In Denmark, organs are only used for transplantation with the permission of a patient or their next of kin. Any person aged 18 years or above is entitled to decide whether or not they will allow their organs to be used for transplantation in case of brain death. If you have not made up your mind, or if you have not expressed your wishes either in writing or by telling someone, your next of kin must make the decision in a given situation. There are three ways for you to express your wishes: • tell your next of kin how you feel about this; • fill in a donor card; • join The Donor Register (Donorregistret). You can join The Donor Register online at www. sundhed.dk You can read more about this in the leaflet Organdonor, available from your local chemist, library or hospital. 8. Complaints Danish Agency for Patient Complaints (Styrelsen for Patientklager) The Danish Agency for Patient Complaints is an independent and impartial authority that receives all types of complaints. You can complain about your course of treatment or if you feel that your rights as a patient during admission, according to law, have been violated. Next of kin may file a complaint on behalf of the deceased. Complaints about treatment processes and complaints about non-compliance with patient rights are dealt with in the Danish Agency for Patient Complaints. Complaints regarding individual healthcare professionals' professional work are decided by the Health Service's Disciplinary Board, which is part of the Board of Patient Complaints. For more information on your options for complaining, please visit the website of the Agency for Patient Complaints on www.stpk.dk Time limits and process There is a time limit of 2 years for filing a complaint. This means, that the complaint must be submitted no more than 2 years after the time when you first suspected, or ought to have suspected, any possible malpractice. When complaining about a decision on patient rights (e.g. waiting times), a deadline of 4 weeks is given from the decision is made. Within 4 weeks of having submitted a complaint, you will be invited to enter into dialogue with the hospital. This option is offered to you as a service which aims to clarify the questions raised in your complaint. The dialogue may be conducted by telephone, letter or email or in a face-to-face meeting. You are welcome to bring a relative or any other person into this dialogue. When the dialogue has taken place, you must then decide whether or not you wish to uphold your complaint. If you need help filing a complaint If you need help in making a complaint, please contact the hospital, the Patient Office for Region Syddanmark (Region of Southern Denmark), or make a direct inquiry to the Danish Agency for Patient Complaints. If you wish to submit a complaint, you will need to use a special Complaints Form. This form is available from the hospital and The Regional Patient Office. Addresses and phone numbers are listed at the back of this booklet. 4/7
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