have any teeth unless it is made law, a hospital critic has claimed.

This was the claim of Mr. Eddie Fisher, whose son Justin's death at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital last year was determined to have been aggravated by a lack of professional care.

Mr. Fisher was also concerned the bill would still not give patients the right to their "full, complete and unchanged medical records''.

In presenting the bill, Bermuda Hospitals Board chairman Mr. Robert Tucker admitted four-year-old Justin's death was one of the reasons that prompted its drafting.

Hospitals Board executive director Mr. Hume Martin said patients' bills of rights had been in place in overseas hospitals for several years.

However, he said, KEMH was not the only hospital that did not have one in place, and the need for one had not arisen until recent years.

After Justin's inquest in April, Mr. Fisher and his wife Jennifer said a bill of rights was desperately needed here to encourage accountability and responsibility by KEMH staff.

They said a bill of rights would have alerted them to the right to supplement Justin's hospital care by hiring a private nurse.

And they said it would have helped them get access to their son's medical records without having to hire a lawyer.

Mr. Fisher welcomed the bill of rights yesterday as a "good step'', but he was troubled by the fact it was not enforceable by law.

He was also concerned there might be a "loophole'' somewhere in a clause which states a patient has the right to: "Obtain from the physician in charge or your care, appropriate information about your diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, from existing clinical records. When this is not medically advisable, such information cane be made available upon request to an appropriate person responsible for your care.'' Mr. Fisher said: "All the bills of rights I have seen in the United States simply say `you are entitled to your medical records'. This seems to be a very long-winded way of putting it.'' He said he and his wife had only been able to secure their son's medical records with the help of lawyer Mr. Julian Hall MP.

And he claimed the late Ms Wendy Wilkinson's family had never been able to see her full records.

A Coroner's jury ruled her death in hospital was also caused in part by a lack of professional care.

Mr. Fisher was consulted by the hospital's ombudsman Mr. Al Savery before the final draft of the bill of rights was made and inserted into the patient's handbook, which is given to all patients.

Mr. Savery said it had taken about a year to draft. Attached to it is a patients' Bill of Responsibilities.

Mr. Eugene Carmichael, a strong proponent of a patients' bill of rights who worked closely with the hospital in drafting it, said he too hoped it would become law, "at some point in the near future''.

And he said, "I have no doubt that as the community has the opportunity to absorb and to digest this information there will be additional ideas for possible inclusion or deletion.''