Final answer:
Client rights in the healthcare setting include the right to autonomy and privacy, which prevents healthcare workers or officials from interfering with patient choices. Contacting a patient's sexual partners without consent would violate the principle of autonomy and privacy rights, which are protected under HIPAA unless a legal exception applies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The American Hospital Association's Patient Care Partnership defines what is expected regarding patient care and rights in the healthcare setting. An action that is not included as a client right is the right for healthcare workers or officials to interfere with patient choices, also known as the right to autonomy. The principle of autonomy asserts that patients have the right to make their own healthcare decisions without undue influence or coercion.
Legal precedents such as HIPAA protect patient privacy, ensuring that individuals' health information remains confidential. This respect for privacy extends to not disclosing a patient's diagnosis to third parties without consent, even in cases where contact tracing for sexually transmitted diseases might be involved. Therefore, contacting a patient's sexual partners without their consent would be a violation of HIPAA, unless a legally mandated public health exception applies.
The Patient Care Partnership and related legal guidelines champion patient rights such as privacy and self-determination over actions by healthcare providers that could compromise these principles without clear legal justification.