Terms and Conditions
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READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE.
USMDDirect.com (USMD Direct) provides Internet-based
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signify your agreement to these Terms and Conditions of use. You must agree to
these Terms and Conditions in order to use the USMD Direct
website. Please read this document carefully. If you do not agree to all of the
Terms and
Conditions of this agreement, do not use this site!
USMD Direct may revise and update these Terms and Conditions at
anytime. Please periodically review the Terms and Conditions posted at the
USMD Direct Website because your continued usage of the
USMD Direct website (USMDDirect Site, or the Site,) will mean you
Section 1:
General Disclaimer; No Medical Advice. THE CONTENT ON THE USMD Direct
SITE IS PRESENTED IN SUMMARY FORM, IS GENERAL IN NATURE, AND IS PROVIDED FOR
INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE CONTENT IS NOT INTENDED IN ANY WAY TO BE A
SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF YOUR
PHYSICIAN OR OTHER QUALIFIED HEALTH PROVIDER WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE
REGARDING A MEDICAL CONDITION. NEITHER THE CONTENT NOR ANY OTHER SERVICE OFFERED
BY OR THROUGH USMD Direct OR THE USMD Direct
SITE IS INTENDED TO BE RELIED ON FOR MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT. NEVER
DISREGARD MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE
READ ON
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to nearest Emergency room for any life threatening condition. THE USMD Direct SITE! USMD
Direct does not recommend or endorse any specific test, products, or
procedures that may be mentioned on the Site. Any opinions expressed on the Site
are the opinions of the authors. USMD Direct does not assume
any liability for the contents of any material provided on the Site. Reliance on
any information provided by USMD Direct, its Health Experts, or
other visitor s to the Site is solely at your own risk. USMD Direct
assumes no liability or responsibility for damage or injury to persons or
property arising from any use of any product, information, idea, or instruction
contained in the materials provided to you. USMD Direct
reserves the right to change or discontinue at any time any aspect or feature of
this Site. You understand further that the Internet contains unedited materials
some of which are sexually explicit and may be offensive to you. You access this
material at your own risk. USMD Direct, its licensors and its
suppliers have no control over and accept no responsibility
Section 2:
USMD Direct's Position on Your Privacy. Click the
back button on your browser to return to the
a. General. USMD Direct recognizes the premium you place on
privacy protection on the Internet. Our employees share the same concerns!
Working together, we strive to protect your privacy, including the
non-identifying information you share in the personal profile that you must
complete in order to become a participating member (Member) within the
Interactive Areas of this Site. USMD Direct subscribes to the
Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct for medical and health web sites.
To learn more click here: (http://www.hon.ch/Conduct.html). USMD Direct
does not collect personally identifiable information about Members or other
USMD Direct users (Users) except when such individuals
specifically provide such information on a voluntary basis. A Member's or User's
access to and use of the USMD Direct Site or services
constitutes information voluntarily given by the Member or User.
b. Use of Registration Information. Personally identifiable information of
individual Members and Users will not be sold or otherwise transferred to
unaffiliated third parties without the Member's or User's prior consent.
USMD Direct stores the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer
when you visit our site. This information is only used to create broad
demographic summaries of where our Members and Users come from: for example, we
know what percentage of Members or Users come from Europe or Africa, but our use
of th e IP addresses does not include identifying who those users actually are.
However, USMD Direct may use registration information and other
voluntarily submitted information in the following ways: * To provide our
editors with information that is useful in developing new features and services
for USMD Direct Members and Users; * To provide advertisers
with aggregate - never individual - information about our Member base and User
usage patterns; and * To allow us to potentially vary advertising based on
Member and User preference. USMD Direct reserves the right to
perform statistical analyses and profiling of Member and User behavior and
characteristics in order to measure interest in and use of the various areas of
the site and to inform advertisers of such information. USMD Direct
will provide only aggregate dat a from these analyses to third parties; no
personally identifiable information will be disclosed. USMD Direct
may sometimes permit third parties to offer subscription and/or
registration-based services through USMD Direct. In this event,
USMD Direct is not responsible for any actions or policies of
such third parties and Members and Users should check the applicable privacy
policy of such party before providing personally identifiable information. It is
not possible for a Member or User to delete his or her profile fro m our
database, nor is it feasible to delete all traces of a Member's or User' s
activity in the system. Messages posted to the boards are examples of user
activities that are not feasible to delete. However, we do offer you the
opportunity to request deletion of your email address-the only individually
identifiable piece of information about your account - from USMD Direct's
database. US MD Direct sends regular email updates to Members. If you wish to
have your email address deleted from our database, email us at
info@USMDDirect.com and include the EXACT words "CANCEL MAIL" in the body of
your email. Please allo w two to three business days for the actual cancellation
to take effect. We will not share your email address with third parties without
first receiving your permission.
c. Voluntary Disclosure of Personally
Identifiable Information on Bulletin Boards, Chat Rooms, and other Interactive
Areas (collectively referred to as Interactive Areas). Subscribers and Users
should be awa re that when they voluntarily disclose personally identifiable
information (for example, user name, e-mail address) on the bulletin boards or
chat areas of USMD Direct, that information, along with any
substantive information disclosed in the Subscriber's or User's communication,
can be collected and correlated and used by third parties and may result in
unsolicited messages from third parties. Such activities are beyond the control
of USMD Direct. US MD Direct makes no warranties about the
discoverability of members' identit y by methods beyond our control. d. Cookie
Technology. USMD Direct may employ cookie technology to allow
Subscribers and Users to move more quickly through our site. Cookies are small
text files a website can use to recognize repeat users and facilitate the user's
ongoing access to and use of the site. Generally, cookies work by assigning a
unique number to the user that has no meaning outside the assigning site. They
do not come onto a user's system nor do they pose a threat to a user's files.
Subscribers and Users should be aware that USMD Direct cannot
control the use of cookies by advertisers or third parties hosting data for
USMD Direct. However, if a Subscriber or User does not want
information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedur e
in most browsers that allows the user to deny or accept the cookie feature.
Please note that cookies may be necessary to provide the Subscriber or User with
certain features (for example, customized delivery of information) available on
USMD Direct. e. Encryption Technology. USMD Direct
uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL ) encryption technology to ensure the integrity
and privacy of the information you pass to us via the Internet; however, to take
advantage of this, you must use utilize a browser that maintains 128bit
encryption support.
d. USMDDirect.com is a HIPPAA (The Health Insurance portability and
Accountability Act of
Section 3:
Use of Content; Copyright. Upon
acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, USMD Direct
authorizes you to view or download a single copy of the material on this website
solely for your personal, noncommercial use. Special rules may apply to the use
of certain software and other items provided on the USMD Direct
Site. Any such special rules are listed as Legal Notices on the USMD
Direct Site and a re incorporated into these Terms and Conditions by
reference. The contents of the USMD Direct Site, such as text,
graphics, images and other material including software licensed by USMD
Direct to permit Users to access the USMD Direct Site
(Content), are protected by copyright under both United States and foreign laws,
and title to the Content shall not pass to you or any other User. Unauthorized
use of the Content may violate copyright , trademark, and other laws. None of
the Content may be reverse-engineered, disassembled, decompiled, reproduced,
transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, translated into any language or
computer language, re-transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photo reproduction, recordation or otherwise), resold or
redistributed without the prior written consent of USMD Direct,
except that you may reproduce limited excerpts of the data for personal use
only, provided that each such copy contains a copyright notice as follows:
Copyright 1998 - 2011, USMDDirect.com, Los Angeles, California. All rights
reserved. For information obtained from USMD Direct's
licensors, you are solely responsible for compliance with any copyright,
trademark and other proprietary rights and restrictions and are referred to the
publication data appearing in bibliographic citations, as well as to the
copyright notices appearing in the original publications. You may not sell or
modify the Content or reproduce, display, publicly perform, distribute or
otherwise use the Content in any way for any public or commercial purpose. The
use of the Content on any other website or in a networked computer environment
for any purpose is prohibited. Content is subject to change without notice at
the editorial discretion of US MD Direct. If you violate any of these Terms and
Conditions, your permission to use the Content automatically terminates and you
must immediately destroy any copies you have made of any
Section 4:
Company's Liability; Disclaimer of Consequential Damages. The Content comes from
sources believed to be accurate, but may contain inaccuracies or typographical
errors. USMD Direct makes no representations about the results
to be obtained from using the USMD Direct Site or the Content.
The use of the USMD Direct Site and the Content is at your own
risk. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT IN CONNECTION WITH THE USMD Direct Site,
INFORMATION WILL BE TRANSMITTED OVER LOCAL EXCHANGE, INTEREXCHANGE AND INTERNET
BACKBONE CARRIER LINES AND THROUGH ROUTERS, SWITCHES AND OTHER DEVICES OWNED,
MAINTAINED AND SERVICED BY THIRD PARTY LOCAL EXCHANGE AND LONG DISTANCE
CARRIERS, UTILITIES, INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS AND OTHERS, ALL OF WHICH ARE
BEYOND THE CONTROL AND JURISDICTION OF USMD Direct AND ITS
SUPPLIERS. ACCORDINGLY, USMD Direct ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR OR
RELATING TO THE DELAY, FAILURE, INTERRUPTION OR CORRUPTION OF ANY DATA OR OTHER
INFORMATION TRANSMITTED IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF THE USMD Direct
Site. THE USMD Direct SITE AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN
"AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. USMD Direct,
ITS LICENSORS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW,
DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES' RIGHTS, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
US MD Direct, ITS LICENSORS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR
WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS OR
TIMELINESS OF THE CONTENT, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS, LINKS, OR COMMUNICATIONS
PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE USE OF THE US MD Direct SITE OR USMD Direct.
USMD Direct, ITS LICENSORS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS DO NOT MAKE ANY
WARRANTY THAT THE CONTENT CONTAINED ON THE USMD Direct SITE
SATISFIES GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON
PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRODUCTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL USMD Direct, ITS
LICENSORS, ITS SUPPLIERS OR ANY THIRD PARTIES MENTIONED AT THE US MD Direct SITE
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVE R (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL
AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
USMD Direct SITE OR THE CONTEN T WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT,
TORT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT US MD Direct IS ADVISED OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. USMD Direct SHALL BE LIABLE TO
YOU ONLY FOR GROSS NEGLIGENCE OR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF
ACTUAL DAMAGES INCURRED BY YOU, NOT TO EXCEED US $1000.00 (ONE THOUSAND
DOLLARS). REMEDIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT ARE EXCLUSIVE AND ARE LIMITED TO
Section 5:
User Submissions. Except as described herein, any communication which you post
on the USMD Direct Site is considered to be non-confidential.
You agree that you will not upload or transmit any communications that infringe
any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of
any party. By submitting communications to any part of this Site, you
automatically grant -- or warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly
granted -- USMD Direct a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable,
world-wide nonexclusive license to use, reproduce, create derivative works from,
modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform, and display the
communication alone or as part of other works in any form, media, or technology
whether now known o r hereafter developed, and to sublicense such rights through
multiple tiers of sublicenses.
Section 6:
Use of Interactive Areas. USMD Direct may provide Interactive
Areas on the USMD Direct Site. If you use an Interactive Area,
you are solely responsible for your own communications and the consequences of
posting those communications. USMD Direct does not assume any
responsibility for the consequences of any Interactive Area communications on or
arising from use of the USMD Direct Site. In cases where you
feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, you should contact your
local law enforcement agency immediately. In consideration of being allowed to
use the Interactive Areas, you agree that the following actions shall constitute
a material breach of these Terms and Conditions: 1. Use of an Interactive Area
for any purpose in violation of local, state, national, or international laws;
2. Post material that infringes on the intellectual property rights of others or
on the privacy or publicity rights of others; 3. Post material that is unlawful,
obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, or embarrassing
to another Member or any other person or entity as determined by USMD
Direct at its sole discretion pursuant to this Section 6; 4. Post
advertisements or solicitations of business; 5. After receiving a warning,
continue to disrupt the normal flow of dialogue, or post comments that are not
related to the topic being discussed (unless it is clear the discussion is free
form); 6. Post chain letters or pyramid schemes; 7. Impersonate another person;
8. Allow any other person or entity to use your identification to post or view
comments 9. Post the same note more than once (The online word for posting many
time s on one topic is "spamming." Spamming is strictly prohibited); or 10.
Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from
using or enjoying the Interactive Areas, or which, in the judgment of
USMD Direct, exposes USMD Direct or any of its
customers or suppliers to any liability or detriment of any type. USMD
Direct reserves the right to record the dialogue in public chat rooms.
USMD Direct does not screen communications in advance and is
not responsible for screening or monitoring material posted by Members or any
other person or entity. If notified by a Member of communication(s) which ar e
alleged not to conform to the terms of this Section, USMD Direct
may investigate the allegation and determine in its sole discretion to remove or
request the removal of the communication(s). USMD Direct
reserves the right t o remove communications which are abusive, illegal,
disruptive, or that otherwise fail to conform with these Terms and Conditions In
addition to the removal rights described above, USMD Direct
reserves the right to terminate a Member's access to any or all Interactive Area
upon Member's breach of these Terms and Conditions. USMD Direct
reserves the right (but is not obligated) t o edit or delete any
communication(s) posted on the USMD Direct Site, regardless s
of whether such communication(s) violate these standards for content.
Furthermore, USMD Direct reserves the right (but is not
obligated) to monitor, edit, or disclose any type of posting on the Interactive
Areas for adherence to the Terms and Conditions, if required in the course of
normal operation and maintenance of USMD Direct, or if required
to do so by law or i n the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to:
(i) comply with the law or comply with legal process served; (ii) protect and
defend the rights of USMD Direct or others; or (iii) act in an
emergency to protect the persona l safety of our guests or the public.
USMD Direct HAS NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY TO SUBSCRIBERS OR ANY
OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FOR PERFORMANCE OR NONPERFORMANCE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED
SCREENING ACTIVITIES. USMD Direct does not represent or
guarantee the truthfulness, accuracy, o r reliability of any of the material
posted by Interactive Area users or endorse any opinions expressed by such
users. ANY RELIANCE ON CONTENT POSTED IN AN INTERACTIVE AREA IS AT YOUR OWN
RISK. Through your use of a the USMD Direct Site's Interactive
Areas, you are agreeing to all of the aforementioned Terms and Conditions for
the use of such Interactive Areas contained herein.
Section 7:
Links to Other Sites. The USMD
Direct Site contains links to third party websites. These links are
provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement by
USMD Direct of the content on such third-party websites. USMD
Direct is not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites
and does not make an y representations regarding the content or accuracy of
materials on such third-party websites. If you decide to access linked
third-party websites, you do so at your own risk. Your use of third- party
websites is subject to the Terms and Conditions of
Section 8:
Advertisements. The USMD Direct Site contains advertisements by
third parties, and these advertisements may contain links to other websites.
Unless otherwise specifically stated, USMD Direct does not
endorse any product or make any representation regarding the content or accuracy
of any materials contained in, or linked to, any advertisement on the
USMD Direct Site.
Section 9:
Indemnity. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold USMD Direct,
its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors and suppliers, harmless
from and against any claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements
including without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting
from, or alleged to result from, your use of the Content (including Software),
or the Interactive Areas in a manner that violates or is alleged to violate
these Terms and Conditions. USMD Direct shall provide notice to
you promptly of any such claim, suit, or proceeding and shall reasonably
cooperate with you, at your expense, in your defense of any such claim, suit or
proceeding.
Section 10:
Section 11:
General. USMD Direct
is based in Los Angeles, California , in the United States of America.
USMD Direct makes no claims the Content is appropriate or may be
downloaded outside of the United States. Access to the Content (including
Software) may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you
access the USMD Direct
Site from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are
responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction.
Section 12:
Jurisdiction. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute
with USMD Direct, or in any way relating to your membership or
use of USMD Direct, resides in the courts of the State of
California and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of
personal jurisdiction in the courts of the State of California in connection
with any such dispute including any claim involving USMD Direct
or its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, contractors, officers, directors,
telecommunication providers and content providers. These Terms and Conditions
are governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of California,
without respect to its conflict of laws principles. If any provision of these
Terms and Conditions is found to be invalid by any court having competent
jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of
the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions, which shall remain in
full force and effect. No waiver of any of these Terms and Conditions shall be
deemed a further or continuing
Section 13:
Complete Agreement. EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED IN A PARTICULAR "LEGAL NOTICE"
ON THE USMD Direct SITE, THESE Terms and Conditions CONSTITUTE
THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU AND USMD Direct WITH RESPECT
TO THE USE OF THE USMD Direct SITE AN D ANY SOFTWARE AND
CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN. Thank you for your cooperation with these Terms and
Conditions. We hope you find the USMD Direct Site helpful and
convenient to use! Questions or comments regarding this Site should be directed
by electronic mail to info@USMDDirect.com.
PHYSICIAN-PATIENT
ARBITRATION AGREEMENT
Article 1:
Agreement to Arbitrate:
It is understood that any dispute as to medical malpractice,
that is as to whether any medical services rendered under this contract were
unnecessary or unauthorized or were improperly, negligently, or
Article 2:
All Claims Must be Arbitrated:
It is the intention of the parties that this agreement bind all
parties whose claims may arise out of or relate to treatment or service provided
by the physician including any spouse or heirs of the patient and any children,
whether born or unborn, at the time of the occurrence giving rise to any claim. In the case of any pregnant mother,
the term “patient” herein shall mean both the mother and the mother’s expected
child or children.
All claims for monetary damages exceeding the jurisdictional
limit of the small claims court against the physician, and the physician’s
partners, associates, association, corporation or partnership, and the
employees, agents and estates of any of them, must be arbitrated including,
without limitation, claims for loss of consortium, wrongful death, emotional
distress or punitive damages. Filing
of any action in any court by the physician to collect any fee from the patient
shall not waive the right to compel arbitration of any malpractice claim. However, following the assertion of
any claim against the physician, any fee dispute, whether or not the subject of
any existing court action, shall also be resolved by arbitration.
Article 3:
Procedures and Applicable Law:
A demand for arbitration must be communicated in writing to all
parties.
Each party shall select an arbitrator (party arbitrator) within
thirty days and a third arbitrator (neutral arbitrator) shall be selected by the
arbitrators appointed by the parties within thirty days of a demand for a
neutral arbitrator by either party.
Each party to the arbitration shall pay such party’s pro rata
share of the expenses and fees of the neutral arbitrator, together with other
expenses of the arbitration incurred or approved by the neutral arbitrator, not
including counsel fees or witness fees, or other expenses incurred by a party
for such party’s own benefit. The
parties agree that the arbitrators have the immunity of a judicial officer from
civil liability when acting in the capacity of arbitrator under this contract.
This immunity shall supplement, not supplant, any other
applicable statutory or common law.
Either party shall have the absolute right to arbitrate
separately the issues of liability and damages upon written request to the
neutral arbitrator.
The parties consent to the intervention and joinder in this
arbitration of any person or entity which would otherwise be a proper additional
party in a court action, and upon such intervention and joinder any existing
court action against such additional person or entity shall be stayed pending
arbitration.
The parties agree that provisions of California law applicable
to health care providers shall apply to disputes within this arbitration
agreement, including, but not limited to, Code of Civil Procedure Sections 340.5
and 667.7 and Civil Code Sections 3333.1 and 3333.2. Any party may bring before
the arbitrators a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication in
accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure.
Discovery shall be conducted pursuant to all Code of Civil Procedure
section 1283.05; however, depositions may be taken without prior approval of the
neutral arbitrator.
Article 4:
General Provisions:
All claims based upon the same incident, transaction or related
circumstances shall be arbitrated in one proceeding. A claim shall be waived and
forever barred if (1) on the date notice thereof is received, the claim, if
asserted in a civil action, would be barred by the applicable California statute
of limitations, or (2) the claimant fails to pursue the arbitration claim in
accordance with the procedures prescribed herein with reasonable diligence. With
respect to any matter note herein expressly provided for, the arbitrators shall
be governed by the California Code of Civil Procedure provisions relating to
arbitration.
Article 5:
Revocation.
This agreement may be revoked by written notice delivered to
the physician within 30 days of signature. It is the intent of this agreement to
apply to all medical services rendered any time for any condition.
Article 6:
Retroactive Effect:
If patient intends this agreement to
cover services rendered before the date it is signed (including, but not limited
to, emergency treatment) patient should initial below:
Effective as of the date of first medical services:
______________________________________________
Patient’s or Patient
Representative’s Initials
If any provision of this arbitration agreement is held invalid
or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and shall
not be affected by the invalidity of any other provision.
I understand that I have the right to receive a copy of this
arbitration agreement. By my signature below, I acknowledge that I have received
a copy.
NOTICE: BY SIGNING THIS CONTRACT YOU ARE AGREEING TO HAVE ANY ISSUE OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE DECIDED BY NEUTRAL ARBITRATION AND YOU ARE GIVING UP YOUR RIGHT TO A JURY OR COURT TRIAL. SEE ARTICLE 1 OF THIS CONTRACT.