Massachusetts Patients' Bill of Rights: Cabbages, Kings, Sausages and Laws

Abstract

A NEW breakthrough has come in the legal development of patient's rights. The Massachusetts Legislature, one of the most cautious and slow-moving lawmaking bodies in the nation, has enacted a quite comprehensive Bill of Rights for patients. The law was passed late in the 1979 session and became effective on August 23, 1979. (The text of the act is reprinted after this column.)Most interesting for readers of the Journal, the Massachusetts Bill, for the first time in such laws, deals separately with the responsibility of "the physician" and the administration of the facilities covered by the legislation: hospitals, clinics, . . .