Patient Charter

CreakyJoints is a patient-powered community of people with arthritis (and their families) that is part of the non-profit Global Healthy Living Foundation. The CreakyJoints patient charter reflects our guiding principles, or the deeply held beliefs that drive our community’s many efforts in arthritis education, support, advocacy, and research.

We Believe:

1. The patient experience is at the heart of medicine; thus the patient must be at the center of all medical decision making.
2. The medical process should stay between the patient and their care provider.
3. The patient should have access to all treatments deemed appropriate by their care provider.
4. Access to care should not be limited by external forces, financial or otherwise.
5. Patients should be empowered and educated with the tools needed to make their voices heard.
6. Elected officials, insurance providers, drug manufacturers, and all those associated with the healthcare system shall make it their goal to ensure the patient is the focus of all decisions.
7. The medical team should strive not only to do no physical harm, but to do no emotional, mental or financial harm to the patient.
8. Patients should be treated with dignity, transparency, and respect by everyone involved in the healthcare process.