Terms of Use

Partners Online Second Opinions (“POSO,” “we,” or “us”) is a physician consultative service offered by Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (“Partners”). It is intended to help patients and their treating physician to request an online medical second opinion consultation with a Partners-affiliated physician. No physician-patient relationship is created by use of this Site.

These terms and conditions of use (“Terms of Use”) govern your use of the POSO online interfaces and properties (e.g., websites) owned and controlled by Partners, including the www.econsults.partners.org website (the “Site”) and the services available to users through the Site (“POSO Services”). To use the Site and POSO Services, you must agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. By clicking the “I Agree” button below, you are indicating that you agree to be bound by all of these terms. Please print and retain a copy of these Terms of Use. Partners may, from time to time, change these Terms of Use. When the terms are changed, Partners will post the updated terms and require you to review and accept the new terms before you continue to use POSO Services. Your continued use of the Site or POSO Services after such changes become effective constitutes acceptance of the new terms. If you do not agree to such changed terms, or if at any time you no longer wish to otherwise abide by these Terms of Use, you should not access or use the Site or POSO Services. The most current version of these Terms of Use can be accessed at any time by selecting the “POSO Terms of Use” link. Certain provisions of these Terms of Use may be superseded by expressly designated legal notices or terms located on particular pages within the Site.

All pages within this Site and any material made available for download are the property of Partners, or its licensors or suppliers, as applicable. The Site is protected by United States and international copyright and trademark laws. The contents of the Site, including without limitation files, documents, text, photographs, images, audio, and video, and any materials accessed through or made available for use or download through this Site (“Content”) may not be copied, distributed, modified, reproduced, published or used, in whole or in part, except for purposes authorized or approved in writing by Partners.

When you use any POSO Service, or send e-mails and other communications from your desktop or mobile device to us, you are communicating with us electronically. You consent to receive communications from us electronically. You agree that (a) all agreements and consents can be signed electronically and (b) all notices, disclosures, and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such notices and other communications be in writing.

Access to and use of the Site and POSO Services is also governed by the terms of the Website Privacy Policy, a copy of which is accessible via the above links and the terms of which are incorporated by reference in these Terms of Use.

If you create an account for the Site, you agree to complete the registration process by providing current, complete, and accurate information as required by Partners. You are responsible for all activities that occur under your account. In the event access to the Site or a portion thereof is limited requiring a user ID and password (“Protected Areas”), you agree to access Protected Areas using only your assigned user ID and password. You agree to protect the confidentiality of your user ID and password, and not to share or disclose your user ID or password to any third party. You agree that you are fully responsible for all activity occurring under your user ID. Your access to the Site may be revoked by Partners at any time with or without cause. You are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Site, including, without limitation, (a) accessing data not intended for such user or logging onto a server or an account which the user is not authorized to access; or (b) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization; or (c) accessing or using the Site or any portion thereof without authorization, in violation of these Terms of Use or in violation of applicable law. If you are under 18, you may use the POSO Services only with involvement of a parent or guardian.

Subject to your compliance with these Terms of Use and your payment of any applicable fees, Partners or its content providers grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable license to access and make personal and non-commercial use of the POSO Services. This license does not include any resale or commercial use of any POSO Service, or its contents; any collection and use of any service listings, descriptions, or prices; any derivative use of any POSO Service or its contents; any downloading, copying, or other use of account information for the benefit of any third party; or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools. All rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms of Use or any POSO Service Terms are reserved and retained by Partners or its licensors, suppliers, publishers, rightsholders, or other content providers. No POSO Service, nor any part of any POSO Service, may be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Partners. You may not misuse the POSO Services. You may use the POSO Services only as permitted by law. You may not use the POSO Services for purposes other than intended, including communications unrelated to healthcare. The licenses granted by Partners terminate if you do not comply with these Terms of Use.

Partners does not accept payment in the form of cash, money order or insurance reimbursement for POSO Services. Major credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover) are the only accepted means of payment, unless your employer or aggregator service covers the POSO Service and provides you with a covered billing code. When you pay by credit card, you authorize Partners to bill and charge the credit card indicated in your order for any fees and any other amounts provided for in your order as the same become due and payable. In the event that your credit card expires or Partners is otherwise unable to debit the applicable amounts from your credit card Partners shall provide notice to you, whereupon you shall immediately furnish Partners with a valid credit card account number. Your request for services from this Site will not be fulfilled until full payment has been received and verified.

Although Partners attempts to ensure the integrity and accurateness of the Site, it makes no representations, warranties or guarantees whatsoever as to the correctness or accuracy of the Site and Content thereon. It is possible that the Site could include typographical errors, inaccuracies or other errors, and that unauthorized additions, deletions and alterations could be made to the Site by third parties. In the event that an inaccuracy arises, please inform Partners so that it can be corrected. Information contained on the Site may be changed or updated without notice. Additionally, Partners shall have no responsibility or liability for information or Content posted to the Site from any non-Partners affiliated third party.

The Site may contain links to third party websites for your information and convenience. Partners is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or content of any such third party websites nor does it endorse them. It is up to you to take precautions to ensure that whatever you select for your use or download is free of such items as viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other items of a destructive nature. If you decide to access any of the third party sites linked to this Site, you do this entirely at your own risk.

If you submit, upload, post or transmit any health information, medical history, conditions, problems, symptoms, personal information, consent forms, agreements, requests, comments, ideas, suggestions, information, files, videos, images or other materials to us or our Site (“User Information”), you agree not to provide any User Information that (1) is false, inaccurate, defamatory, abusive, libelous, unlawful, obscene, threatening, harassing, fraudulent, pornographic, or harmful, or that could encourage criminal or unethical behavior, (2) violates or infringes the privacy, copyright, trademark, trade dress, trade secrets or intellectual property rights of any person or entity, or (3) contains or transmits a virus or any other harmful component. You agree not to contact other site users through unsolicited e-mail, telephone calls, mailings or any other method of communication. All User Information that you submit is subject to our Website Privacy Policy. You represent and warrant to Partners and Partners-affiliated physicians that you have the legal right and authorization to provide all User Information to Partners and Partners-affiliated physicians for use as set forth herein and required by Partners and Partners-affiliated physicians. You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Partners and Partners-affiliated physicians harmless from and against all third party claims, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) against or incurred by Partners arising out of any User Information you upload to or transmit through the Site.

For a list of Partners’ registered copyrights and how to report copyright infringement, Click Here.

PARTNERS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT ACCESS TO OR USE OF THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE OR THAT DEFECTS IN THE SITE WILL BE CORRECTED. THIS SITE, INCLUDING ANY CONTENT OR INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN IT OR ANY SITE-RELATED SERVICE, IS PROVIDED "AS IS," WITH ALL FAULTS, WITH NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, QUALITY OF INFORMATION, QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND TITLE/NON-INFRINGEMENT. PARTNERS DOES NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS OF THE INFORMATION OBTAINED THROUGH THE SITE.

YOU ASSUME TOTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND RISK FOR YOUR USE OF THIS SITE, SITE-RELATED SERVICES, AND LINKED WEBSITES. PARTNERS DOES NOT WARRANT THAT FILES AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES OR OTHER DESTRUCTIVE PROGRAMMING. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR IMPLEMENTING PROCEDURES SUFFICIENT TO SATISFY YOUR NEEDS FOR DATA BACK UP AND SECURITY.

PARTNERS AND ANY THIRD PARTIES MENTIONED ON THIS SITE ARE NEITHER RESPONSIBLE NOR LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THOSE RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING IN ANY WAY TO THE SITE, SITE-RELATED SERVICES, CONTENT OR INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THE SITE, AND/OR ANY LINKED WEBSITE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY AND WHETHER OR NOT ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. YOUR SOLE REMEDY FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE, SITE-RELATED SERVICES, AND/OR LINKED WEBSITES IS TO STOP USING THE SITE AND/OR THOSE SERVICES.

This Site is controlled and operated by Partners from our location in Massachusetts, United States of America. By using this Site, you agree that the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern both these Terms of Use and any disputes that might arise between you and Partners, its affiliates and their trustees, officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents and Partners-affiliated physicians. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute with Partners, its affiliates and their trustees, officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents and Partners-affiliated physicians, shall be in federal or state court in Suffolk County, Massachusetts and you further agree and expressly consent to the exercise of personal jurisdiction by and in the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in connection with any claim involving Partners, its affiliates and their trustees, officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents and Partners-affiliated physicians. Use of this Site or receipt of any POSO Services is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to these Terms of Use.

Partners reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of this Site, with or without cause, and with or without notice. In the event that any of the Terms of Use are held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provisions shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these Terms of Use shall otherwise remain in full force and effect. These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between Partners and you pertaining to the subject matter hereof.