Liability for posts & awnsers to questions

advice, internet predators, and HIPAA

[Sarah Atkinson]

We are a social service agency and wish to start a forum for community members. But we have some concerns;

1st:
If 'jane' asks for advice for something medical or legal related.
And
'john' , a non-professional relies but his advice inaccurate. OR God forbid tells 'jane' to go shoot her lawyer and she does it.

2nd:
What if a Scam Artist found his/her victim on our broads?

3rd:
What if ‘jane’ (being an idiot) posts personal/medical information about herself or others on our board and then claims she did not realize that the board was public.

Would we as forum holders be liable?

Sarah

[kaz]

Who's liable when it comes to answering these question correctly :)

[harleyx]

That's what TOS and Acceptable Use agreements are all about. Most popular forum packages force you to check a box saying you've read and understand the agreement before you can create an account and post.

[rogerd]

Welcome to the forum forum, all... Sarah, I agree with harleyx - be sure you have strong member agreements and TOS. Have your attorney review these, as standard forum terms may not be sufficient to comply with HIPAA.

Sarah, forums like yours serve a great purpose. Just be sure you are legally protected, and you'll help a lot of people. Good luck!

[Beagle]

Have your attorney review these, as standard forum terms may not be sufficient to comply with HIPAA.

I agree--if you're in the U.S. and expect personal medical discussions to come up on the forum, HIPAA has to be taken into account upfront, especially since the forum will be connected with a social service agency that could very possibly be considered a "provider" under HIPAA rules; hopefully you have access to an attorney who's knowledgeable in that area. I'd suspect your legal situation would be very different from a private nonprofessional who starts up a general or hobby forum and unexpectedly has a poster who starts spewing personal medical or legal information.

HIPAA's in my field; I'd imagine there are similar considerations in the legal area, or other areas your agency might deal with. But careful vetting of TOS and member guidelines before going live should make it doable.

Also be sure anyone who's moderating the forum knows what to do in specific circumstances before the circumstances come up (as much as possible), and any non-professional moderators know who to go to if something unforeseen happens.

[rogerd]

Certainly, obvious disclaimers would appear to be a good first step. If you've ever bought a piece of exercise equipment, there's always a big warning, "Consult your doctor before using this." That doesn't mean they won't get sued if a user has a heart attack the first time he tries it out, but it's one element in their defense.

Be sure that your members know that you aren't providing medical advice, and that they should not consider any posts by members, moderators, admins, or owners as medical advice; their personal physician should be the source for medical advice and treatment. If it were my forum, I'd have my attorney work up a statement to this effect and have it on every page (and on the "new message" form, too).

In that same vein, please don't consider this to be legal advice; your attorney should be the source for legal advice and TOS wording. :)

[HughMungus]

Ask a lawyer.

[rogerd]

Just to re-emphasize that point, HIPAA violators can incur criminal and civil penalties for the business, including personal liability... not something to mess around with.