With hospitals and nursing homes tending to thousands of patients every year accidents can---and do ---happen. These incidents whether they are through carelessness or otherwise, can leave patients feeling powerless. That's not the case.    "There is growing public awareness. People are feeling they have more rights and they have tools in hand to make a complaint," said Ralph Montano, spokesman for the California Department of Public Health, which regulates hospitals and long term care facilities in the state.     That department received more than 6000 complaints about hospitals in 2007; in the most recent year statistics are available. The complaints can be about mixed-up lab results, medicine errors, foreign objects left in a patient during surgery or a host of other topic.     Similarly, the California Department of Aging received 43000 nursing home complaints in 2009. Some said patient abuse or neglect of patients; others reported missing items. And some commented on the quality of the food.      But finding the channels through them to put forward a complaint can be tiring and time consumption. Many consumers simply don't bother, and some become lost in the system. Whether the complaint is against a hospital or a long-term care facility, the process is similar--- and many people can help, including the facility's staff, insurance company representatives and state regulators.     If you want to make a complaint while in the hospital, Patti Harvey, vice president of quality and patient care services for Kaiser Permanente in Southern California, recommends talking with the bedside nurse. If that doesn't work, you can talk with other people higher in the chain of command, up to the hospital administrator. If the problem isn't still taken care of ---say you disagree with your treatment plan or have a problem with your doctor---member service offices at each hospital can help address your concerns. Who can help if you complain against a hospital or a long term care facility?
Peter---a medical officer from the government. Rudy---a headmaster of a medical university. Tom---a teacher of a medical school. Jack---a representative of an insurance company.