Re: Medical/legal disclaimers - -Mike - Reply to Cindy

[Guest guest]

I was thinking, would it be possible for you two and any others

giving this type of advise, to write a disclaimer as your

signiture? I think signiture is the right word, for that saying at

the bottom of some folks emails. Would that protect your butts?

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You are suggesting something along the lines of:

" Opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the writer, are

provided for informational purposes only, and are not in any fashion

to be construed as giving medical or legal advice. Readers are

urged in all cases to consult their primary care provider when

questions arise. "

In answer to your question, maybe, maybe not, it all depends.

In general, the Board itself needs a blanket disclaimer as well. I

just checked the main sign-in page. The " greeting " is copied

below. My recommendation would be to take the above disclaimer,

modify it as shown below, and add it to the greeting.

Welcome to the Canadian Ehlers Danlos Associations' EDS listserv!

This is a family and we discuss ehlers danlos syndrome here, and all

things related to EDS! You will find a great deal of information

shared here, including personal experiences, non-medical advice,

opinions, medical news, laughter, tears. This is a large group and

we tackle all topics! We welcome with open arms, all new members and

encourage you to join us and wave hello! " Opinions expressed on this

Board are solely those of the writer, are provided for informational

purposes only, and are not in any fashion to be construed as giving

medical or legal advice. Readers are urged in all cases to consult

their primary care provider or attorney when questions arise. "

This would serve to protect Jill and those directly involved with

running and maintaining the Board.

With four degrees under my belt, including two MBA's, I probably

have more hours of " legal " education and training than I

do " medical/bodywork. " My legal training, combined with a thirty

plus year career in business, is why I gave the wishy-washy, maybe,

maybe not, answer up above.

Using that kind of disclaimer language at the bottom of a post in

theory SHOULD be all the legal protection any of us " in the field "

with licenses would need to protect ourselves, and our licenses.

That's in theory. Unfortunately, like in any field, book theory

does not always match the hard, cold " real " world.

I was not exaggerating in the slightest about how tightly written

the Standard of Care laws are in the United States, nor about their

true purposes. My opinion of them, however, is of absolutely no

consequence in this context – they are what they are, they have

teeth, and they have been used repeatedly over the years to bite,

chew up, and spit out " offenders. " " Practicing medicine, " " giving

medical advice, " and what constitutes " acceptable standard of care "

are whatever the applicable state medical board says they are at any

given point in time. Even fully licensed, allopathic MDs are not

immune from this. Any MD who treats a patient with any

alternative/complimentary/holistic approach that is not recognized

as being within the generally accepted " standard of care " in his

location runs the risk of being hauled before his own medical review

board. It happens all the time.

Escalating malpractice premiums and claims in recent years have only

made the situation worse. Everybody knows about the

historical " closed ranks-blue line " in law enforcement where you

didn't " rat out " a brother officer, even if the brother officer

needed to get tossed in jail himself. The same mind-set exists in

the medical profession. It is rare that one doctor will challenge

another. This is changing, somewhat like it is changing in law

enforcement, but the basic mind-set is still there. And that mind-

set comes into play whenever someone (particularly someone

outside " their " field) questions a diagnosis or treatment protocol.

They very jealously guard their turf … and the law is on their side.

The best protection for those of us with licenses is, as

pointed out, to be very, very careful in our wording and language.

You may have noticed how often I use language like " what you

describe is suggestive of " or " you might want to consider "

or " something you might want to check or look into is " or " this is

something you should or need to talk to your doctor about. " I can't

tell you how many times in the last three years I have personally

been involved in situations with either family members or others

where the diagnosis or treatment protocol suggested and/or

implemented by the " primary care provider " was simply WRONG, and in

some cases downright harmful. If you know anything at all about me,

you can pretty well guess how I responded.

But the hard cold facts are that all it would have taken is for one

of those " people " to go their doctor and say " Mike is an LMP and he

says … " With just that, all the doctor would have to do is file a

complaint against me with the state Board of Licensing. At best, I

could expect my license to be history. At worst, I could have

criminal charges of practicing medicine without a license filed and

be staring at a fine or jail time. And any of us " in the field " who

are not actual MDs run that risk to some degree every time we post

something.

Does that mean that I am going to stop posting things, or is

going to stop, or other RNs, LMTs, or medically associated field

list members are going to stop? Not at all. This is just meant as

a clarification, some suggestions that " we " can follow to better

protect " us, " and some background for those of you not in the field

to better understand our " situation " and some of the risks that we

are willingly assuming to try to help.