Legal
The National Pain Foundation's Legal Information
The National Pain Foundation strives to offer the most accurate information available online free to its members. While reviewing any content on our web site it is important to consider the following legal guidelines.
Use of www.NationalPainFoundation.org
Use of NPF Content
Dispute Resolution
Privacy Policy
Advertising Policy
Guidelines for the Community section
The Pain Care Provider Directory
Link Disclaimer
USE OF THIS WEB SITE
The National Pain Foundation (NPF) was created to assist those who experience chronic pain to find hope and help and healing. This web site is designed to provide information and support to you as you work with your health care providers in addressing your pain. Your health care providers know you and your individual circumstances. They are licensed to diagnose and treat your pain. You understand and agree that The National Pain Foundation cannot diagnose or prescribe treatment for your pain or otherwise render medical advice or professional services to you. You also understand and agree that the material presented on the NPF site is not intended to substitute for the opinion of a medical professional. ALWAYS CONSULT A MEDICALLY TRAINED PROFESSIONAL WITH QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS YOU HAVE REGARDING YOUR MEDICAL CONDITION. YOU ALSO UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT YOU SHOULD SEEK PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE AND DO NOT DELAY IN SEEKING TREATMENT BASED ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS WEB SITE.
We understand that living with chronic pain may cause feelings of anger, helplessness or depression. You understand and agree that if you are experiencing these feelings, you must contact a counselor, social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist for help. If you are considering hurting yourself or have thoughts of suicide, you must do one of the following immediately:
- Call 911
- Go to the nearest hospital emergency room
- Call your mental health advisor or physician
- Call a suicide prevention line
The National Pain Foundation does not endorse or recommend any specific treatment, procedure, or product. Philanthropic contributions made to the NPF are gifted without ties to marketing products, procedures, or treatments.
Every situation is unique and requires individualized attention. The National Pain Foundation web site is provided to help explain what pain is and what resources are available to manage pain. Patient-related inquiries about pain should be directed to your health care provider.
Health care providers utilizing this site should rely on their training, education, and experience and not rely on the information provided on this site as their sole source of information.
The NPF does not accept liability for injury or damage resulting from your decision to use any treatment options reviewed or to participate in any clinical trials announced on this site. The decision to rely on information found on the NPF web site or supporting links is entirely at your own risk.
Should you decide to access a web site linked to the NPF site, you should recognize that the NPF has no control over the contents of that site. Accordingly, the NPF assumes no responsibility or liability for any other sites' content, accuracy, or compliance with applicable laws, and no warranties, guaranties, or representations are made by the NPF concerning any linked sites. The NPF continues to review, expand, and update its web site, including links and pointers to other web sites; no inferences should be drawn from any absence of any link or pointer, and no endorsement should be assumed from their presence.
USE OF CONTENT
All materials presented on the NPF web site are copyrighted. Materials downloaded from the NPF web site cannot be sold, reproduced, or redistributed without the prior permission of The National Pain Foundation.
DISPUTE RESOLUTION
This Agreement is entered into and performed in the State of Colorado, United States of America, and is governed by and shall be construed in all respects under the laws of Colorado, exclusive of its choice of law or conflict of laws provisions. In any claim or action directly or indirectly arising under this Agreement or related to the Service, each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the state or federal courts of Colorado, and you irrevocably submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of such courts and waive any jurisdictional, venue, or inconvenient forum objections to such courts.
PRIVACY POLICY
Information you provide to the NPF will be used to respond to your requests as well as to collect information about treatment options you have tried and whether or not they have been helpful. We intend to use this information to assist in the process of securing information to further substantiate treatment methodologies and predict trends in the field. Additionally, we believe the patient is in the best position to provide us the guidance to further enhance the materials we provide. Patients' names will not be used in conjunction with the gathering of this information. We will communicate with you when you have requested specific information by e-mail. If you choose to participate in research trials, you have the option of notifying us about your interest. Your contact information will be forwarded to the corresponding organizations or companies conducting the research trials.
ADVERTISING POLICY
The National Pain Foundation web site does not host or receive funding from advertising. We do not endorse any product or service promoted by our sponsors, and we do not allow sponsors to influence the health content on our site.
GUIDELINES FOR THE COMMUNITY SECTION
You are free to read the messages in the Community section, but you must register if you'd like to post a message. If you haven't registered yet and would like to, click here.
We want the Community section to be a safe, welcoming, and supportive place, and, with that in mind, we ask that you consider the following guidelines when participating.
Be Friendly and Welcoming
We are all here to help each other. Welcome new members the way you would like to be welcomed if you were new to the community.
Language
Please refrain from using vulgar, abusive, hateful, harassing, or threatening, language. If you use such language, you will be blocked from the community.
Medical Advice
The community section allows you to share experiences and offer support and encouragement to others. Although someone's situation might be similar to yours, everyone's situation is unique, and you should not, under any circumstances, give medical advice to anyone.
Physician and Health Care Names
Specific references to physician and/or health care names are not allowed. It is not our intent to bash or promote individuals or companies but to learn how to work with our physicians and other health care providers. Please say "my doctor" or "a health care company."
Disclaimer
Opinions. The opinions provided by users are their own and not necessarily those of the NPF.
Moderators. The NPF moderators and those acting on behalf of the NPF have the right to edit and delete any posts that contain content that does not follow the guidelines listed above. The NPF also has the right to remove and/or ban any user who does not follow the guidelines. While the Moderator may, from time to time, correct or delete posts with obviously incorrect information, you may not assume that this is done in every case, nor may you rely on any post for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Copyright. Any contributions made in My Community are the copyright of The National Pain Foundation.
PAIN CARE PROVIDER DIRECTORY
Terms and Conditions
The National Pain Foundation (NPF) offers "The Pain Care Provider Directory," an online list of physicians and other providers on the NPF network. Downloading, republishing, reselling or duplicating, in whole or in part, for commercial use, or for purposes of compiling mailing lists or any lists, or any other purposes, other than for locating a provider for your personal healthcare, is strictly prohibited. You may not use the NPF Pain Care Provider Directory to establish independent data files or compendiums of statistical information. The NPF Pain Care Provider Directory is intended for use by the general public to assist in locating providers within a specific region who use the www.nationalpainfoundation.org services. All data is self-reported and is not intended for use by organizations requiring credentialing verification.
Disclaimer of Warranties and Liabilities
This directory is compiled from self-reported information provided by physicians participating in the NPF Pain Care Provider Directory. Although NPF undertakes reasonable efforts to keep the information contained in our Pain Care Provider Directory accurate, NPF does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of the information contained in NPF's Pain Care Provider Directory. NPF does not in any way endorse the individuals described in the Pain Care Provider Directory, nor does NPF verify medical qualifications, licenses, practice areas or suitability of the listed physicians. In no event shall NPF be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance on such information. The above warranties are the only warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including warranties or merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. We strongly encourage anyone accessing this Pain Care Provider Directory to take the same precautions in employing a provider as they normally would.
OUTSIDE LINK DISCLAIMER
Should you decide to access a site link listed on the NPF site, you should recognize that the NPF has no control over the contents of that site. Accordingly, the NPF assumes no responsibility or liability for any other sites' content, accuracy, or compliance with applicable laws, and no warranties, guaranties, or representations are made by the NPF concerning any linked sites. The NPF continues to review, expand and update its web site, including links and pointers to other web sites; no inferences should be drawn from any absence of any link or pointer.