Patients' rights, being an integral part of broadly understood human rights, define the relationship between a patient and an institution or a person providing medical services. The aim of the study is to present a catalogue of patients' rights guaranteed by acts of statutory rank and how these rights were respected by entities providing contracts for health services within the framework of general health insurance in the Wielkopolskie Voivodship in the years 1999-2006. A method of document examination was used; the status of observance of patients' rights was determined on the basis of an analysis of written complaints of patients, spontaneously submitted to the Office of the Patient Ombudsman in Pozna\u0144. In the analysed time period, i.e. from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2006, 1132 written complaints and requests of patients were submitted to the Office of the Patient Ombudsman at Wielkopolska Regional Health Fund in Pozna\u0144 and to the Office of the Patient Ombudsman at Wielkopolska Regional Branch of the National Health Fund in Pozna\u0144. The most frequently occurring problem in patients' complaints and requests was violation of the patient's right to health services corresponding to the requirements of medical knowledge (306 complaints and requests, i.e. 27.03%) and suspicion of medical errors - 130 written complaints (11.48%). The rights most frequently reported by patients to have been violated were the right to health services corresponding to the requirements of medical knowledge, the right to information about the state of health and the right to inspect the patient's medical records. The number of patient complaints indicates the need for systemic solutions to guarantee legal, medical and financial assistance to patients. There is a need to undertake continuous educational activities aimed at popularising knowledge about patient rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n