Partners | Privacy & Disclaimer

Information for Reporting Claims of Copyright Infringement

On April 14, 2003, the federal Office of Civil Rights implemented the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to promote privacy and trust between patients and their health care providers. As part of these rules, all new patients seeing their health care provider upon their initial visit are required to sign an acknowledgement form to indicate that they have received the Privacy Notice. The Privacy Notice describes how the hospital/provider uses and shares your personal health information.

Patient Privacy Notice - English (PDF document)

Patient Privacy Notice - Spanish (PDF document)

We respect your privacy interests and so operate this site by these principles:

You may use Partners HealthCare ("Partners") web site without disclosing personally identifiable information. We want to be clear that we will not obtain such information about you unless you choose to submit to us. For example, by emailing us your comments or suggestions, that identifies your email address.

We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of personally identifiable information that you may provide. You should understand, however, that electronic transmissions via the Internet are not necessarily secure from interception and so we cannot guarantee the security or confidentiality of such transmissions.

The web server of Partners collects and saves the default information customarily logged by world wide web server software. Our logs contain the following information for each request: date and time, originating IP address and domain name (the unique address assigned to your Internet service provider's computer that connects to the Internet), object requested, and completion status of the request. We use these logs to help improve our service by evaluating the "traffic" to our site in terms of number of unique visitors, level of demand, most popular page requests, and types of errors.

These logs may be kept for an indefinite amount of time, used at any time and in any way necessary to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations or other facially valid legal processes, we will not share any information we receive with any outside parties.

The Partners HealthCare System, Inc. ("Partners") web site is intended to provide general information about Partners HealthCare, its member hospitals, and other affiliates. The information on this site is written by the staff of Partners HealthCare. This site also provides links to the web sites of Partners member and affiliates that provide health information that may be written by their respective staff, physicians or health care providers, or contracted from outside providers. We also provide access (links) to some external web sites for your convenience. Partners is not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or content of those outside sites, nor does it endorse them.

This site is not an attempt to practice medicine or provide specific medical advice, nor does use of the site establish a doctor-patient relationship. Should you electronically request a referral to a Partners-affiliated hospital, we will use the information you submit to arrange for care where appropriate. For emergency medical treatment or answers to personal questions, we strongly encourage you to consult with a qualified health care provider.

You assume full responsibility for using the information on this site, and you understand and agree that Partners and its affiliates are not responsible or liable for any claim, loss, or damage resulting from its use by you or any user. While we try to keep the information on the site as accurate as possible, we disclaim any warranty concerning its accuracy, timeliness, and completeness, and any other warranty, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Partners also does not warrant that access to the site will be error- or virus-free.

Material on the Partners web site is protected by copyright law. Unless otherwise stated, users may print or download information from this site for personal, non-commercial use only, provided they identify the source of the material and include a statement that the materials are protected by copyright law. Permission to reprint or otherwise reproduce any document in whole or in part is prohibited, unless prior written consent is obtained from the copyright owner.

By choosing to use the Partners web site you acknowledge and agree to the terms of this Disclaimer and our Privacy Policy. We encourage you to read these, and those on our member web sites. We reserve the right to modify these terms and policies and recommend that you periodically review them, because if you use the site you will be expected to comply with these.

In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 (the “DCMA”) Partners HealthCare System, Inc (“Partners") is registered as a Service Provider with the United States Copyright Office. Also included under Partners in the following entities:

THE BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITALS, INC.
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S PHYSICIAN HOSPITAL ORGANIZATION, INC.
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S PHYSICIANS ORGANIZATION, INC.
BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S/FAULKNER HOSPITALS, INC.
BRIGHAM COMMUNITY PRACTICES, INC.
BWH RESEARCH, INC.
CHARTER ACQUISITION CORPORATION
CHARTER HEALTH MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
CHARTER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CORPORATION
DANA FARBER/PARTNERS CANCER CARE, INC.
FAULKNER BREAST CENTRE, INC.
FAULKNER COMMUNITY MEDICAL CORPORATION (?)
FAULKNER HOSPITAL, INC.
FRC, INC.
THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION
THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL PHYSICIANS ORGANIZATION, INC.
THE McLEAN CHILD CARE CENTER, INC.
McLEAN HEALTH SERVICES, INC.
THE McLEAN HOSPITAL CORPORATION
THE MGH INSTITUTE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS, INC.
NEWELL MEDICAL DELIVERY ORGANIZATION, INC.
NEWTON-WELLESLEY AMBULATORY SERVICES, INC.
NEWTON-WELLESLEY HOSPITAL
NEWTON-WELLESLEY HOSPITAL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.
NORTH END COMMUNITY HEALTH COMMITTEE, INCORPORATED
NORTH SHORE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, INC.
THE NORTH SHORE HEALTH SYSTEM, INC.
THE NORTH SHORE MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION, INC.
THE NORTH SHORE MEDICAL CENTER, INC.
PARTNERS COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE, INC.
PARTNERS CONTINUING CARE, INC.
PARTNERS HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, INC.
PARTNERS HOME CARE, INC.
REHABILITATION HOSPITAL OF THE CAPE AND ISLANDS CORPORATION
THE SALEM HOSPITAL
SHAUGHNESSY-KAPLAN REHABILITATION HOSPITAL, INC.
THE SPAULDING REHABILITATION HOSPITAL CORPORATION
UNION HOSPITAL, INC.
WEST ROXBURY MEDICAL GROUP, INC.

Notifications of copyright infringement claims occurring on Partners’ network should be reported to our designated agent, as follows:

Neil Buckley
Partners Healthcare System, Inc.
One Constitution Center, 1st floor
Charlestown, MA 02129

Email: dmca-agent@partners.org

Any such notice must be in writing, and must include the following information as required by the DMCA:

· A physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or the person authorized to act on its behalf;
· A description of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
· A description of the infringing material and information reasonably sufficient to permit Partners to locate the material;
· Your contact information, including your address, telephone number, and email;
· A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
· A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and, under the pains and penalties of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.