AlbertaRheumatology.com Terms of Use

Although we strive to ensure the information on our website is accurate and secure, we accept no legal responsibility for any errors or omissions. Always discuss and check with your own physician first. This website is intended for a Canadian audience.

Further, our website affords patients the opportunity to communicate electronically. Specifically, Ask the Rheumatologist offers website users the potential opportunity to communicate electronically with a rheumatologist. This is a one way communication method where a rheumatologist ultimately receives an email from the user based on the information inputted in the online form. Transmitting information electronically poses several risks of which the user should be aware. The user should not agree to communicate via this route without understanding and accepting these risks. The risks include, but are not limited to, the following:

• As the information you enter is routed through email, the privacy and security of email communication cannot be guaranteed.
• Employers and online services may have a legal right to inspect and keep emails that pass through their system.
• Email is easier to falsify than handwritten or signed hard copies. In addition, it is impossible to verify the true identity of the sender, or to ensure that only the recipient can read the email once it has been sent.
• Email can be forwarded, intercepted, circulated, stored or even changed without the knowledge or permission of the physician or the patient.
• Email is indelible. Even after the sender and recipient have deleted their copies of the email, back-up copies may exist on a computer or in cyberspace.
• Use of email to discuss sensitive information can increase the risk of such information being disclosed to third parties.
• Email can be used as evidence in court.
• The patient is aware there is no encryption software as a security mechanism for email communications.

Conditions of use

Physicians will use reasonable means to protect the security and confidentiality of email information received. However, because of the risks outlined above, the physician cannot guarantee the security and confidentiality of email communication, and will not be liable for improper disclosure of confidential information that is not the direct result of intentional misconduct of the physician. Thus, patients must consent to the use of email for patient information. Consent to the use of email includes agreement with the following conditions:

• Emails from the user concerning diagnosis or treatment may be printed or transcribed in full, or used for research purposes. Other individuals may be granted authority to have access to those emails.
• Emails may internally be forwarded to the other rheumatology members.
• There is no guarantee a response to a submission will be posted online.  No individual response will be provided directly.  Specific individual health concerns should be relayed directly through your health care team’s office.  This service does not and cannot replace individual care.
• Email communication is not an appropriate substitute for clinical examinations.
• Users should not use email for communication regarding sensitive medical information, such as sexually transmitted disease, AIDS/HIV, mental health, developmental disability, or substance abuse.
• The website is not responsible for information loss due to technical failures.