Patient rights are a fundamental aspect of modern health care, encapsulating key ethical principles and legal protections for individuals receiving medical care. These rights have evolved over the past several decades, in part due to changing societal values, landmark legal cases, and policy developments. At their core, patient rights aim to ensure that patients are treated with dignity and respect, have autonomy in medical decision-making, and are protected from discrimination and abuse or within the health care system.

Key Patient Rights

Some of the most important patient rights include:

1. Right to informed consent: Patients have the right to receive clear information about their diagnoses, treatment options, risks and prognosis in order to make informed decisions about their care. Providers must obtain informed consent prior to undertaking procedures or administering treatments.
2. Right to confidentiality and privacy: Patient medical information and records must be kept confidential, with strict limits on disclosure. The HIPAA Privacy Rule mandates federal protections for personal health information.
3. Right to access medical records: Patients have a right to view and obtain copies of their medical records in a timely manner. 
4. Right to refuse treatment: Competent adult patients can refuse or discontinue treatment, even if their decision results in death.
5. Right to emergency treatment: Hospitals must accommodate a patient's need for emergency treatment regardless of the patient's ability to pay, thanks to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
6. Right to be free from discrimination: Patients have a right to receive care without discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or source of payment.
7. Right to respectful care: Patients should be treated with dignity and respect.
8. Right to pain management: Patients have the right to an appropriate assessment and management of pain.
9. Right to designate visitors: Patients can decide who may visit them during a hospital stay, including opening the door to partners or closing the door to those they do not wish to see in troubled times.
10. Right to advance directive: Patients have a right to create advance directives specifying their wishes for end-of-life care.

Legal and Regulatory Framework

Patient rights are protected through a variety of federal and state laws, as well as via institutional policies. Key federal laws and regulations include:

• Patient Self-Determination Act (1990): Requires health care providers to inform their patients of the patients' rights to make decisions about their medical care, including the right to accept or reject treatment.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (1996): Mandates maintenance of data privacy and security provisions for maintaining privacy as to patient records.
• Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) (1986): Requires hospitals to provide emergency medical care to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
• The Affordable Care Act (2010): Provides expanded patient protection in areas like coverage for preexisting conditions and appeal rights for denial of insurance claims.

Many states have enacted their own patient bills of rights, which may provide additional protections beyond federal laws. In addition, most health care institutions have their own patient rights policies as well.