PatientsLikeMe : Join PatientsLikeMe

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The Value of Openness

Most healthcare web sites have a Privacy Policy . Naturally, we do too. But at PatientsLikeMe, we're more excited about our Openness Philosophy . We believe sharing your healthcare experiences and outcomes is good because when patients share their data, collaboration on a global scale becomes possible. Learn more about what openness can achieve .

Privacy Standards

PatientsLikeMe has a very strict NO-SPAM policy, which means we won’t ever sell, trade or give away any email address you enter without your permission. We also never display your personally identifiable account information, such as your real name. Instead, you select a username (anonymous or otherwise) of your choosing. Review our Privacy Policy .

Join PatientsLikeMe

Our current communities are for people with ALS/Motor Neuron Disease, Anxiety, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bipolar, Depression, Fibromyalgia, HIV/AIDS, Multiple Sclerosis, OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), Parkinson's disease, and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).

To create an account for one of these conditions just tell us a bit about yourself.

Step 1: Create Your Account (*required)

Condition*: Don't see your condition? Request it here.
First name
Last name
Email address*
Select a Password*
Retype Password*: I agree to the PatientsLikeMe Terms & Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy .*

Terms and Conditions of Use

Effective February 13, 2009

The following terms constitute an agreement between you and PatientsLikeMe, Inc. (“PatientsLikeMe”), the operator of www.patientslikeme.com (the “Site”). This agreement governs your use of the Site, both as a casual visitor and a registered member as described below.

By accessing or using the Site, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. To the extent you register on the Site as a member, then in addition to the terms that are applicable to all users of the Site, the terms that apply only to members shall apply to you too.

Membership Eligibility

To become a member and access the area on this Site reserved for members (the “Member Area”), PatientsLikeMe requires that you are either (a) a diagnosed patient of the particular community you are joining, (b) a caregiver for a patient eligible to join such community, (c) a health care professional (e.g. doctor, nurse, health researcher, etc.), or (d) a guest as authorized by a PatientsLikeMe member or employee.

Children under the age of 13 are prohibited from registering as members. By registering as a member you represent that you are age 13 or older.

This Site Does Not Provide Medical Advice

All of the material provided on the Site, such as text, treatments, dosages, outcomes, charts, patient profiles, graphics, photographs, images, advice, messages, forum postings, and any other material provided on the Site are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your health. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this Site.

If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. PatientsLikeMe does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Site. Reliance on any information provided by PatientsLikeMe, by persons appearing on the Site at the invitation of PatientsLikeMe, or by other members is solely at your own risk.

Acceptable and Lawful Use of Site by Members

Members shall not post or upload any information or other content on the Site that (a) is false, inaccurate or misleading; (b) is obscene or indecent; (c) infringes any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy of any party; or (d) is defamatory, libelous, threatening, abusive, hateful, or contains pornography. Members shall not interfere with other members’ use and enjoyment of Site (for example, by harassing, threatening, soliciting, overly promoting personal interests, or stalking another participant of a chat room, forum, seminar, or threaded message, including the use of expressions of bigotry, racism, hatred, or profanity). Members may not use the Site to conduct any activity that is illegal or violates the rights of others, provide instructional information about illegal activities, or promote physical harm or injury against any group or individual.

All members represent and warrant that the information they provided when registering as a member, and all information that they subsequently provide regarding themselves and their membership, is true and accurate and not misleading.

Use of Site by Members and Non-Members

You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means to access the Site or content or services provided on the Site for any purposes. You may not post content on the Site that contains any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, spiders, or other computer programming routines that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information. You shall not attempt to make the Site unavailable through denial-of-service attacks or similar means. You shall not use contact information provided by members, or collect information about our members, to facilitate the sending of unsolicited bulk communications such as SPAM or SPIM or allow others use of your membership account to take such actions.

Non-Commercial Use by Members

The Member Area and the content and information contained in the Member Area is for the personal use of individual members only and may not be used in connection with any commercial endeavors. Organizations, companies, and/or businesses may not become members and should not use the Site without express consent from PatientsLikeMe. Members of PatientsLikeMe with individual commercial interests may not solicit or overtly promote their products or services within the Member Area. All content shared within the site is not for external use. To garner permission and access to members, please direct all media and analyst inquiries to mediarelations@patientslikeme.com and all research requests to research@patientslikeme.com. Representatives from life sciences and insurance companies are prohibited from creating profiles in our communities. Please direct inquiries to support@patientslikeme.com.

Privacy

You agree that you have read, understood and accept the terms of PatientsLikeMe's Privacy Policy. This policy governs the collection, use and sharing of personal and non-personal information from you when using the Site.

Posting and Use of Content in the Member Area

The Member Area includes community areas, such as forums and member areas, where members may post messages, images, and other content. If you are a member, you (or the author) owns the copyright in the messages, images, and other content you post in the Member Area, but by posting such content to the Member Area you grant PatientsLikeMe and our affiliates the right to use, copy, display, perform, distribute, translate, edit, and create derivative works of your postings, subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy.

While some community areas in the Member Area are monitored periodically for topicality, PatientsLikeMe has no obligation to prescreen postings and is not responsible for their content. We encourage you to notify us of inappropriate or illegal content and we reserve the right to remove postings for any reason.

You agree not to disclose to any person or entity personally identifiable information about other members that you learn using this Site (whether posted in the Member Area by a member or emailed to you by a member) without the express consent of such member. You may disclose information of a general nature (that could not identify the member who provided such information or whom such information is about) to third parties outside this Site, subject to the above restriction on non-commercial use.

Member Password and Login Identity

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your member password and login, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account with or without your knowledge. If you knowingly provide your login and password information to another person, your membership privileges may be suspended temporarily or terminated. You agree to immediately notify PatientsLikeMe of any unauthorized use of your membership password or login or any other breach of security.

Links to Other Websites

PatientsLikeMe may contain links to other websites that are not under the control of PatientsLikeMe. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by PatientsLikeMe of such site and PatientsLikeMe is not responsible for the content of such linked sites.

Membership Termination

You agree that PatientsLikeMe may, with or without cause, immediately terminate your PatientsLikeMe membership and access to the Member Area without prior notice. Without limiting the foregoing, the following may lead to a termination by PatientsLikeMe of a member's membership and use of the Site: (a) breaches or violations of this Agreement or other incorporated agreements or guidelines, (b) requests by law enforcement or other government agencies, (c) a request by you (self-initiated membership cancellation), (d) unexpected technical issues or problems, and (e) extended periods of inactivity. PatientsLikeMe has no obligation to maintain, store, or transfer to you information or data that you have posted on or uploaded to the Site.

Modifications to this Agreement

We reserve the right to modify this Agreement at any time, and without prior notice, by posting amended terms on this Site. We encourage you to review this Agreement periodically for any updates or changes, which will have an update effective date.

Fees

Membership with PatientsLikeMe is currently free. PatientsLikeMe Inc. reserves the right to from time to time change the terms of this Agreement and charge for membership and/or to provide additional optional services for a fee.

Disclaimer of Warranties

The Site and the content and services made available on the Site are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. PatientsLikeMe does not make and disclaims all express and implied warranties and representations, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, with regard to the Site, the Site content, or any advice or services provided through the Site to the extent permitted by law. PatientsLikeMe does not warrant that access to the Site or its content or services will be uninterrupted or error-free or that defects in the Site will be corrected.

The advice, recommendations, information, and conclusions posted or emailed by other members of the Site are not in any way vetted, approved or endorsed by PatientsLikeMe, and you use such information at your own risk.

Limitation of Liability

Under no circumstances shall PatientsLikeMe, its partners, contributors, agents, employees, directors, or affiliates be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages (even if it has been advised of the possibility of such damages) due to your use of this Site or due to your reliance on any of the content contained or the services provided on the Site.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless PatientsLikeMe, its officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, affiliates and other partners, 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 violation of this Agreement.

International Users

PatientsLikeMe makes no claims that information on the Site is appropriate or may be downloaded outside of the United States. Personal information (“Information”) that is submitted to this Site will be collected, processed, stored, disclosed and disposed of in accordance with applicable U.S. law and our Privacy Policy. If you are a non-U.S. user, you acknowledge and agree that PatientsLikeMe may collect and use your Information and disclose it to other entities outside your resident jurisdiction. In addition, such Information may be stored on servers located outside your resident jurisdiction. U.S. law may not provide the degree of protection for Information that is available in other countries. By providing us with your Information, you acknowledge that you consent to the transfer of such Information outside your resident jurisdiction as detailed in our Privacy Policy. If you do not consent to such transfer, you may not use this Site.

Member Notices

If you register as a member, you agree that PatientsLikeMe may send notices to you by email at the email address you provide when registering to become a member (or which you later update using the functionality of the Site).

Governing Law and Venue

This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the applicable federal laws of the United States of America. All disputes arising under, or in any way connected with membership in or use of the Site, shall be litigated exclusively in the state and federal courts residing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in no other court or jurisdiction. You hereby submit to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Miscellaneous Terms

“PatientsLikeMe^TM” and the PatientsLikeMe logo are trademarks of PatientsLikeMe. You agree not to display or use these trademarks in any manner without PatientsLikeMe's prior, written permission.

PatientsLikeMe may assign this agreement at any time to a subsidiary or parent company or to a successor to its business as part of a merger or sale of substantially all of its assets. You may not assign or transfer this agreement.

If any provision of this Agreement is held to be unenforceable for any reason, the remaining provisions will be unaffected and remain in full force and effect.

Some of the treatment information provided on the Site is from a third party source, Cerner Multum, Inc.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. ("Multum") is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and end-users in the United States. Multum does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate. Multum's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Multum's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve end-users viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners. The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient.

For any questions or comments, or to report violations of this agreement, let us know, or contact us at:

PatientsLikeMe Inc.

Attn: User Agreement Issues

155 Second Street

Cambridge, MA 02141

History of Updates/Changes to Terms and Conditions of Use:

On February 13, 2009, the “Acceptable and Lawful Use of Site by Members” and “Non-Commercial Use by Members” sections were updated.
On June 23, 2008, minor typographical and grammatical errors were corrected.
On March 26, 2007, this Agreement was substantially revised.
On December 15, 2006, the “Membership Eligibility” and “Acceptable and Lawful Use of the Site” sections were updated.
On February 27, 2006, original version of this Agreement was added to the site.

Step 2: Create Your Profile (*required)

Select a Username*
I Certify That I Am*: in the community; Title
Your relationship to the community.
Profile Visibility Setting*: I want my profile to be visible only to other PatientsLikeMe community members.
I want my profile to be publicly visible on the Internet. Public profiles can be viewed by anyone with Internet access, including non-PatientsLikeMe members, and may be indexed by search engines such as Google. Account information, such as your real name, address, birth date, and email address will never be displayed. Instead, you select a username (anonymous or otherwise) of your choosing. We urge you to read our Openness Philosophy to find out how you help both yourself and other patients by making your profile public.; I want to be listed in the PatientsLikeMe ALS Public Registry. Keep in mind that the ALS Public Registry can be viewed by anyone on the Internet. Non-PatientsLikeMe members will see my full name, age, disease onset, and diagnostic history. The registry permission is independent of any other privacy settings. To be listed, you must provide your first and last name.

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