Welcome
Welcome to the Website Term and Conditions of Use for NorthShore University HealthSystem, including Northwest Community Healthcare and Swedish Hospital (“NorthShore”, “We”, “Our”, or “Us”). We are committed to empowering our patients and other visitors of our websites (“Site") to make informed decisions, including decisions with respect to use of the Site. Please review Our Website Terms and Conditions of Use (“Terms”), as they contain certain obligations and responsibilities that may affect your legal rights and ability to use the Site.
By accessing the Site or using any of the features or services provided on the Site, you agree to comply with and be bound by these Terms, as well as Our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the Terms and the Privacy Policy, please do not use or access the Site.
Important Notices
NorthShore provides on the Site general and educational information about NorthShore’s services and facilities. We do not intend the Site to be a source of instructions in the event of an emergency. If you believe you have symptoms indicative of an urgent or life-threatening medical condition, immediately call 9-1-1 or your local emergency medical system or provider.
While committed to providing you information about the services and treatment NorthShore provides, We do not intend the Site to be a substitute for medical advice specific to your situation. The information provided on the Site is for personal and educational purposes only. By providing information on the Site, NorthShore is not attempting to practice medicine, and use of the Site does not, by itself, establish a physician-patient relationship. Additionally, the information provided on the Site is not a substitute for physician, or other qualified healthcare provider’s assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your physician or a qualified healthcare provider for medical treatment or answers to personal medical questions.
While We believe in providing you with accurate information, We can only provide general information about NorthShore’s services and facilities. In other words, the information provided on the Site may be not be cumulative or specific to your situation. Please do not delay or forgo seeking medical care from a physician or other qualified healthcare provider if you have questions, concerns, or symptoms related to the information provided on the Site.
Eligible Users
NorthShore is committed to protecting the privacy of children and complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. As such, the Site is not intended for or directed to children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 18 (or under the age of majority set by the applicable laws of the State in which you are located), please do not use the Site without being supervised by a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by these Terms. By using the Site, or by supervising someone using the Site, you represent that you are at least 18 years old and have the full power and authority to enter into these Terms. If you are accessing or using the Site on behalf of another, you represent that you are authorized to accept these Terms on that person’s or entity’s behalf, and that person or entity agrees to be responsible to Us for your violation of these Terms.
License Grant
NorthShore grants you a personal, revocable, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use the Site provided you accept and comply with these Terms. You may use the Site for your noncommercial personal and educational use. Please do not use the Site for any other purpose.
License Restrictions
Unless you receive Our prior written consent, you may not modify, translate, create derivative works of, copy, distribute, market, display, remove or alter any proprietary notices or labels from, lease, sell, sublicense, clone, transfer, decompile, reverse engineer, or incorporate into any information retrieval system (electronic or mechanical) any portion of the Site.
Please do not access or use the Site for any unauthorized or illegal purpose or activity, interfere with the proper working of the Site, or interfere with any other person’s use and enjoyment of the Site.
If you are unable to comply with these restrictions, we may restrict your use of the Site, such as by suspending or terminating your ability to access all or part of the Site.
Intellectual Property Rights
NorthShore owns or licenses all the Site’s original content, materials, features and functionality (including, without limitation, text, marks, information, images, photos, graphics, artworks, logos, videos, audios, directories, listings, databases, and search engines) (the “Content”). Please be advised that the Content may be protected by copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property laws. For as long as you comply with these Terms, NorthShore grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license (“Content License”) to use the Content solely for your noncommercial personal or educational use. The Content License does not include a right to: (a) sell or resell the Content; (b) copy or reproduce the Content for any purpose other than your non-commercial personal or educational use; (c) modify the Content; (d) remove any proprietary rights notices or markings, or otherwise make a derivative use of the Content; (d) use any data mining, robots or similar data gathering or extraction methods; and/or (e) use the Content other than for its intended purposes. Except for the express, limited Content License set forth in this paragraph, We reserve all other rights in and to the Content.
If you cannot comply with the limitations of the Content License, NorthShore may revoke or terminate your Content License. Any unauthorized use, reproduction or distribution of the Content is strictly prohibited and may result in termination of the Content License, as well as potential civil and/or criminal penalties.
Sharing Content
You may download, copy, or otherwise use the Content and other downloadable items displayed on the Site (“Downloadable Content”) fornoncommercial personal or educational uses. If you download, copy, or otherwise use Downloadable Content, you are required to maintain all copyright, trademark, and/or other notices contained therein. Copying or storing of any Content for other than personal or educational use is expressly prohibited without prior written permission from NorthShore. We may require you to stop using Downloadable Content should your use violate NorthShore’s policies, rights, or cause interruption or deterioration of the Site or Content.
Links to the Site
NorthShore grants you a limited, non-exclusive right to create a hyperlink to any portion of Site for non-commercial purposes. If you create a hyperlink to any portion of the Site, we ask that you ensure such link does not portray NorthShore, including any NorthShore Party (as defined below in the Section titled “Limitation of Liability”), or any Content in a false, misleading, derogatory or otherwise defamatory manner. We also ask that you ensure that the linking site does not contain any adult material or other material that is offensive, harassing, or otherwise objectionable. If you are unable to comply with the limitations in this section, we may require You to disable or remove any hyperlink to the Site that violates NorthShore’s policies (including these Terms), rights, or causes interruption or deterioration of the Site.
Use of the Site
When accessing, browsing, or using the Site, please do so responsibly. Do not violate any local, state, or federal law, rule or regulation. Also, do not violate any contract or third-party right, such as intellectual property or other proprietary rights. Unless otherwise expressly allowed by these Terms, the following actions or activities are expressly prohibited while accessing, browsing, or using the Site:
- Engaging in any harassing, threatening, intimidating, predatory, or stalking conduct;
- Copying, reproducing, selling, leasing, renting, distributing, transferring, modifying, or making derivative works of the Site or Content;
- Decompiling, disassembling, reverse engineering, or otherwise attempting to discover or derive any proprietary software code or other information associated with the Site or Content;
- Removing or altering any notice or other legal indication of a copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property right;
- Interfering with the proper working of the Site including, but not limited to, the transmission of any virus, worm, trap door, back door, timer, clock, Trojan horse, denial of service attack, or other limiting routine, instruction or design;
- Framing or otherwise create a browser or border environment around any Site page or Content, or “deep-link” to any internal page or area of the Site; and
- Using the Site in any way or for any purpose that violates international law.
If you cannot access, browse, or use the Site within the bounds of acceptable and responsible use of the Site, as set forth in this section of these Terms, please do not access, browse, or use the Site. If you fail to adhere to the limitations of use set forth in this section of these Terms, NorthShore may revoke, suspend, or terminate your ability to access, browse, or use the Site and/or any license or right granted by these Terms.
Information about Our Healthcare Providers
At NorthShore, Our goal is to provide you with accurate information to allow you to make informed choices about your health. To this end, We strive to provide you with accurate and complete information about physicians and other healthcare providers who practice medicine at NorthShore facilities. However, please understand that some physicians or other healthcare providers whose information is available on the Site may not be employees or agents of NorthShore. Although NorthShore believes the information provided on the Site concerning the academic and professional credentials of physicians or other healthcare providers is reliable and accurate, We cannot guarantee or warrant that such information is accurate, complete, or up-to-date.
Links to Third-Party Sites
For your convenience, the Site may provide links (including any link through an on-line banner advertisement) to third-party sites on the Internet. Please note that NorthShore does not maintain such third-party sites, and has no control over such sites. If you decide to access any third-party site via a link on the Site, please understand that you do so entirely at your own risk. Also, please note that the appearance of a link to a third-party site is not necessarily intended as an endorsement of any particular company or product.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Notice
NorthShore is committed to complying with intellectual property laws, and requires all users of the Site to comply with these laws. Accordingly, you may not store any material or content, or use or disseminate any material or content, through the Site in a manner that constitutes an infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights, including rights granted by copyright law.
If you believe that work has been copied on the Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that information on the Site, including the Content, otherwise infringes an intellectual property right, please contact NorthShore in writing to: Office of General Counsel, 1301 Central St., Evanston, IL 60201.
When contacting NorthShore regarding a claim of copyright or other intellectual property right infringement, please provide the following:
- an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
- a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
- a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site;
- your address, telephone number, and email address;
- a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
- a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.
Click-Through Agreements
Before using certain areas of the Site, you may be asked to indicate your acceptance of additional special terms and conditions by clicking a button marked “I Accept”, “I Agree”, “Okay”, “I Consent”, or other words or actions that similarly acknowledge your consent or acceptance of a Click-Through Agreement. To the extent there is a conflict between these Terms of Use and any Click-Through Agreement for the activity in which you choose to participate, the Click-Through Agreement will govern.
Applicable Law
These Terms and all matters regarding your use of the Site shall be governed by, construed in accordance with, and enforced under the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to choice of law principles. By accessing, browsing, or using the Site, you agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these Terms shall be filed only in the state and federal courts located in or otherwise covering Cook County, Illinois. You hereby irrevocably and unconditionally consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts over any suit, action, or proceeding arising out of these Terms.
Use of the Site outside the United States
The Site is intended for use by individuals located in the United States. If you are outside of the United States and access the Site or submit your personal information to Us, please be advised that United States law may not offer you the same privacy protections as the law of your jurisdiction. If you visit the Site or contact Us from outside the United States, please be advised that: (i) any information you provide to Us or that We automatically collect will be transferred to the United States; and (ii) that by using the Site or submitting information, you explicitly authorize its transfer to and subsequent processing in the United States in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Limitation of Liability
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL NORTHSHORE (INCLUDING NORTHSHORE’S AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES, EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, MEMBERS, OR TRUSTEES) NOR ANY OF NORTHSHORE’S AGENTS, REPRESENTATIVES, SUPPLIERS, ADVERTISERS, CONTRACTORS, PROMOTIONAL PARTNERS, OR LICENSORS (EACH, A “NORTHSHORE PARTY” AND COLLECTIVELY, THE “NORTHSHORE PARTIES”) BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED, REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY AND WHETHER OR NOT A NORTHSHORE PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO: (A) THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE; (B) ANY CONTENT OR PRODUCTS AVAILABLE OR SOLD ON OR THROUGH THE SITE; OR (C) ANY THIRD-PARTY CONTENT OR MATERIALS (INCLUDING USER CONTENT) OR THE DEFAMATORY, INFRINGING, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY. WHILE CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OF LIABILITY OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SUCH LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN ANY CASE, THE ENTIRE LIABILITY OF THE NORTHSHORE PARTIES UNDER THESE TERMS FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE) IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESS TO THE SITE.
In the event you are dissatisfied with, or dispute, these Terms, the Site, and/or the Content, please terminate your use of the Site, as NorthShore has no other obligation, liability, or responsibility to you.
Disclaimer
THE SITE AND THE MATERIALS CONTAINED THEREIN, INCLUDING THE CONTENT, ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" OR “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. NORTHSHORE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NORTHSHORE DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT MATERIALS IN THIS SITE ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, RELIABLE, CURRENT, OR ERROR-FREE. NORTHSHORE DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THIS SITE OR ITS SERVER(S) ARE FREE OF VIRUSES WORMS, “TROJAN HORSES,” OR OTHER MALICIOUS SOFTWARE. NORTHSHORE DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTIES AS TO THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE SITE AND/OR SERVICES, OR ENDORSE, RECOMMEND, OR MAKE ANY WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY OF ANY CONTENT, INFORMATION, MATERIALS, USER CONTENT, FEATURES, SERVICES, PRODUCTS, OR STATEMENTS AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE SITES OR THROUGH LINKS ON THE SITE. THE USE OF THE SITE IS ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Indemnification
To the fullest extent permitted by law, you shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the NorthShore Parties from and against all claims arising from or in any way related to your use of the Site and/or the Content, your violation of these Terms, or any other actions connected with your use of the Site and/or the Content, including any liability or expense, losses, damages (actual and consequential), suits, judgments, litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. NorthShore will provide prompt written notice of any such claims, but failure to provide such notice will not release you from any of your obligations pursuant to this section, except to the extent that you are actually prejudiced by such failure, and will not relieve you from any other liability that You may have to the NorthShore Parties other than under this section.
Waiver
NorthShore’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision in these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.
Term and Termination
These Terms will take effect at the time you begin using the Site. NorthShore reserves the right, with or without notice, and at any time and for any reason, to deny you access to the Site or to any portion thereof, and to terminate these Terms. These Terms, and the licenses and rights granted to you thereunder, will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with, or if We reasonably believe that you have not complied with, these Terms.
You may terminate our relationship under these Terms at any time by ceasing to access, browse, or use the Site, but all applicable provisions, rights, and remedies available to NorthShore under these Terms will survive such termination. Upon termination, please destroy all copies of any portion of the Site, including any Content, in your possession.
Severability
If a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, such provision shall be enforced to the fullest extent of the law, and all other provisions shall remain in full force and effect.
Changes to these Terms
NorthShore reserves the right to revise these Terms at any time in Our sole discretion by posting revised Terms to the Site. Because your use of the Site signifies your acceptance of all the terms and conditions contained within the Terms in effect at the time of your use, We ask that you please regularly review the Terms posted to the Site.
Contact Information
If there are any questions or concerns regarding these Terms, please contact NorthShore’s concierge services team at: 224.364.4968 or email: concierge@northshore.org for further assistance.
Last Updated on August 30, 2019