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Last Updated: February 12, 2025

The Site is not intended to provide instructions in the event of an emergency. If you believe your symptom or situation is urgent or life-threatening, call 911 or your local emergency medical system immediately. Under no circumstances should you attempt self-treatment based on anything you have seen or read on the Site.

Please read these Terms of Use carefully before accessing or using any part of the Site. By accessing or using the Site, you agree that you have read, understand, and agree to be bound by these Terms, including as they may be amended from time to time. 

These Terms of Use set forth the terms and conditions (“Terms”) that apply to your access and use of our website, located at umms.org, and all other websites owned and/or operated by UMMS (collectively, the “Site”). “UMMS,” “us,” “we,” and “our” include the University of Maryland Medical System, its affiliates, and its officers, directors, employees, consultants, subsidiaries, and agents.

Please note, these Terms do not apply to your access and use of our patient portals, which may be available through the Site, including the MyChart patient portal (collectively, “Patient Portals”). The terms for our Patient Portals are set forth in the MyChart Terms and Conditions of Patient Usage. Please review the MyChart Terms and Conditions carefully before using our Patient Portals, and review our Website Privacy Policy for additional information regarding our use and disclosure of your protected health information in connection with your access and use of the Patient Portals. 

IMPORTANT NOTICES PERTAINING TO THE SITE AND THESE TERMS:

These Terms limit our liability to you and require you to resolve disputes in a specific place.

The Site is solely intended for your own general, personal, and educational purposes. 

The Site should not be construed as an attempt to practice medicine or provide any medical advice, nor does the use of the Site constitute the provision of treatment to a user or establish a doctor-patient relationship. 

  1. Privacy. By accessing or using the Site, you agree that we may collect, use, and share your personal information as explained in our Website Privacy Policy , which is part of the Terms. Please review our Website Privacy Policy for information about our privacy practices and how we collect, use, and protect your personal information. Note that our Website Privacy Policy does not describe how we treat your Protected Health Information (which is information protected by the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, also known as HIPAA). If you have any questions about how we handle your Protected Health Information, please review our Website Privacy Policy.   
  2. Non-Medical Advice Disclaimer. UMMS uses this Site to provide general information about health care topics. The contents of this Site, such as text, videos, graphics, images, quoted information, and all other materials ("Content") are provided for general knowledge and educational reference only. Content is not medical advice and should not be used or relied on for diagnosis or treatment. Content does not take the place of instructions or advice from your doctor or health care provider and may not necessarily take into account your individual health situation. UMMS has no duty to correct or update the Content. Your reliance on any Content is solely at your risk. The publication of Content or reference to sources of any Content, including any products, procedures, physicians, treatments, or diagnoses are not endorsements by UMMS. UMMS RECOMMENDS THAT ANY INDIVIDUAL REQUIRING MEDICAL ADVICE SHOULD CONSULT A PHYSICIAN OR OTHER MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL.
  3. Electronic Communications. In connection with your use of the Site, we and our partners and affiliates may need or want to send you certain communications, such as service announcements and administrative messages. When you provide us with your telephone number or email address and request information from us, you may receive telephone calls, emails, or other electronic communications. Where required by law, we will seek additional, separate consents from you for such communications. You acknowledge that your use of the Site constitutes your acknowledgement and acceptance of these Terms, which includes your consent to receive electronic communications to the extent permitted by applicable laws. You acknowledge that you may have the right to withdraw your consent to receiving certain electronic communications and that you are responsible for any data fees you may be charged by your wireless carrier in connection with any electronic communications. If you choose to provide an email or other electronic address to UMMS for communications, you acknowledge and consent to receive messages at the provided email address, and you represent and warrant that such email address is your correct address and is not accessible or viewable by any other person.
  4. Account Security. To use the Site, you must use the Site in compliance with any and all applicable laws and regulations. If you are under 18 years old, you acknowledge and agree that you have reviewed and understand these Terms. UMMS reserves the right to restrict who is eligible to use the Site and the right to reject or revoke access at any time without liability.
  5. Access. To access or use some features of the Site, such as registering for an event, requesting a doctor’s appointment, or providing feedback, you may be required to give us certain identifying information about yourself, including but not limited to your email address and other contact information. When inputting such information, you agree to provide true, accurate, current, and complete information about yourself. You also agree not to impersonate anyone, misrepresent any affiliation with anyone else, use false information, or otherwise conceal your identity from UMMS for any purpose.
  6. Prohibited Conduct. You may not, and agree not to:
    a. Use the Site for any illegal purpose, or in violation of any local, state, national, or international law;

    b. Violate or encourage others to violate the rights of third parties, including intellectual property rights;

    c. Post, upload, or distribute any content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, inaccurate, or that a reasonable person could deem to be objectionable, profane, indecent, pornographic, harassing, threatening, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate;

    d. Interfere in any way with the confidentiality, integrity, availability, or security-related features of the Site;

    e. Interfere with the operation or any user’s enjoyment of the Site, including by uploading or otherwise disseminating viruses, adware, spyware, worms, or other malicious code, making unsolicited offers or advertisements to other users, or attempting to collect personal information about users or third parties without their consent;

    f. Access, monitor or copy any content or information of the Site using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means or any manual process for any purpose without UMMS’s express written permission;

    g. Frame the Site, place pop-up windows over its pages, or otherwise affect the display of its pages;

    h. Perform any fraudulent activity, including impersonating any person or entity, claiming false affiliations, or falsifying your identity or any information about you, including age or date of birth; or

    i. Sell or otherwise transfer your access to the Site.
  7. Third Party Content. The Site may contain links to third party websites and services. UMMS provides such links as a convenience and does not control or endorse such third party websites and services. You acknowledge and agree that UMMS has not reviewed the content, advertising, products, services, or other materials that appear on such third party websites or services, and that we are not responsible for any aspect of that content, including its legality, accuracy, or appropriateness. You acknowledge and agree that UMMS is not and will not be held responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of any such third party websites or services.
  8. Intellectual Property and User Content. You acknowledge and agree that you give up all ownership rights in any ideas, feedback, suggestions, comments, inquiries, or other information, including resumes and other employment-related information that you submit to UMMS through the Site (collectively, “Submissions”). You acknowledge that UMMS has full rights to use and implement any Submissions, and any Submissions will be treated as non-proprietary and non-confidential. By providing any Submission, you grant UMMS a nonexclusive, royalty-free, fully paid up, perpetual, transferable, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, sell, assign, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display any Submission in any form, media or technology, whether now known or hereafter developed, alone or as part of other works. You also acknowledge that we may use your Submission, and any ideas, concepts or know how contained therein, for any purpose including, without limitation, developing, manufacturing, distributing, and marketing products. If you make a Submission, you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control the rights to your Submission and may provide them to UMMS for UMMS’s use. The Site is protected by applicable copyright and other intellectual property laws, and no materials from the Site may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way without our express permission. All trademarks and service marks on the Site belong to UMMS, except third-party trademarks or service marks, which are the property of their respective owners.
  9. Indemnification. You agree that you will be personally responsible for your use of the Site, and you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless UMMS from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including attorneys’ and accounting fees and costs), arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your access to, use of, or alleged access to or use of the Site; (b) your violation of the Terms or any applicable law or regulation; (c) your violation of any third party right, including without limitation any intellectual property right, publicity, confidentiality, property, or privacy right; or (d) any disputes or issues between you and any third party. UMMS reserves the right, at our own expense, to exclusively defend and control any matter that relates to this section for which you would otherwise be responsible and, in such case, you agree to cooperate fully with our defense of such matter.
  10. Termination. If you violate these Terms, your ability to access and/or use the Site may be terminated. In addition, UMMS reserves all rights to suspend or terminate some or all of your access to the Site at any time and for any reason, with or without notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that, after your access is terminated, UMMS may continue to store information and content previously provided by you.
  11. Modification of the Terms. UMMS reserves the right at any time to modify these Terms and to impose new or additional terms or conditions on your use of the Site. Such modifications and additional terms and conditions will be effective immediately upon their incorporation into these Terms. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you of any changes to the Terms that may have a meaningful impact on your use of the Site, including, but not limited to, by posting a notice to our website or by sending an email to any address you may have provided to us. You acknowledge and agree that your continued use of the Site following an update to these Terms and/or any notification will be considered acceptance of any modifications to the Terms.
  12. Disclaimers of Warranties. The Site is provided “as is” and on an “as available” basis, without warranty or condition of any kind, either express or implied. This means that, although UMMS seeks to maintain safe, secure, accurate, and well-functioning services, we cannot guarantee the continuous operation of or access to our Site, and there may at times be unintentional technical or factual errors or inaccuracies. UMMS specifically (but without limitation) disclaims (a) any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quiet enjoyment, or non-infringement; and (b) any warranties arising out of course-of-dealing, usage, or trade. This means that you assume all risk for any and all damages that may result from your use of or access to the Site. UMMS does not guarantee the accuracy of, and disclaims all liability for, any errors or other inaccuracies in the information, content, recommendations, and materials made available through the Site.
  13. Limitation of Liability. In no event will UMMS be liable to you for any incidental, special, consequential, direct, indirect, or punitive damages, whether based on warranty, contract, tort (including negligence), statute, or any other legal theory, whether or not UMMS has been informed of the possibility of such damages. By accessing the Site, you expressly and unconditionally release and hold us harmless from any and all liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with the use and/or misuse of such access. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of warranties or limitation of liability in certain circumstances. Accordingly, some of the above limitations may not apply to you.
  14. Governing Law. These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, without regard to conflict of law principles. Subject to Section 16, which provides that disputes are to be resolved through binding arbitration or small claims court, to the extent that any lawsuit or court proceeding is permitted under these Terms, you and UMMS agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the state courts and federal courts located within Maryland, for the purpose of litigating all such disputes. This means that Maryland laws apply to these Terms and if a dispute comes up, and it has to be resolved through litigation rather than arbitration, it will be resolved in courts located in the State of Maryland.
  15. Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration. In the interest of resolving disputes between you and UMMS in the fastest and most cost effective manner, you and UMMS agree to resolve disputes arising under these Terms and/or in connection with your access and/or use of the Site through binding arbitration or small claims court instead of in courts of general jurisdiction (“Agreement to Arbitrate”). You irrevocably waive any and all right to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or related to your use of our Site. Arbitration is more informal than a lawsuit in court. Arbitration uses a neutral arbitrator instead of a judge or jury, allows for more limited discovery than in court, and is subject to very limited review by courts. Arbitrators can award the same damages and relief that a court can award. Any arbitration under these Terms will take place on an individual basis; class arbitrations and class actions are not permitted. You acknowledge and agree that the arbitrator may award relief (including monetary, injunctive, and declaratory relief) only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief necessitated by that individual party’s claim(s). Any relief awarded cannot affect other users.
  16. Modification of the Site. UMMS reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, some or all of the Site at any time without any notice or further obligation to you. You agree that UMMS will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of any of the Site.
  17. General.
    a. Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Notice of Privacy Practices, represent the entire and only understanding and agreement between you and UMMS regarding your use of and access to the Site and, except to the extent expressly permitted above, may only be changed by a written agreement signed by authorized representatives of the parties.

    b. No Waiver. The failure to enforce these Terms in one case shall not affect our right to enforce any of these Terms at any later time. Additionally, a waiver of any breach or default of the Terms shall not serve as a waiver of any later breach or default, or a waiver of any part of the Terms.

    c. Paragraph Headers. Use of paragraph headers in the Terms is for convenience only and shall not have any impact on the interpretation of any part of the Terms.

    d. Severability. In the event that any part of the Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the unenforceable part shall be given effect to the greatest extent possible and the remaining parts will remain in full force and effect.

    e. Additional Terms. Additional terms may apply to certain features of the Site, and we will notify you of any additional terms prior to your use of any such features. In the event that there is a conflict between these Terms and any additional terms, the additional terms will control.
  18. Notice to California Residents. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite S-202, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 in order to resolve a complaint regarding the service or to receive further information regarding use of the service.
  19. Intended Audience. The Site contains information about UMMS products and services that have been approved and cleared for use in the United States. If you live in a country other than the United States, you may see information on the Site about products or services that are not approved or marketed in your country. UMMS makes no representation that the information is appropriate or available for use outside of the United States. If you access our Site from locations outside of the United States, you do so on your own initiative and you are solely responsible for compliance with local laws, as applicable. The information on our Site does not imply that UMMS intends to announce or make products and/or services available outside the United States and does not constitute marketing of any such products and/or services.
  20. Contact Us. If you have any questions about these Terms, you can reach us at web@umm.edu. 

 


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