Social Media Policy for Site Visitors

            Thank you for participating with Desoto Regional Health System (“Desoto Regional”) in social networking communities such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, blogs, bulletin boards, and other social media sites. Desoto Regional uses social networking sites to share general health education and information. We welcome and encourage open discussion on Desoto Regional’s social media sites, and look forward to any comments, stories, and experiences you want to share.  BY POSTING ON ANY DESOTO REGIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA SITE YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS. 

            Desoto Regional makes reasonable efforts to monitor participation to ensure that you stay on topic, are courteous, and avoid making offensive comments. The information provided by Desoto Regional on these platforms is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. It is not intended as an endorsement, or a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

            Please also be aware that once you post something online, there exists the potential for countless people to read your words, even years from now. As a result, we suggest that you exercise caution when posting medical information on any of our social media sites and that you not disclose personal identifiable information like your location, social security number, medical record number, financial information, etc. If you have questions regarding personal or confidential health information or require medical advice, please contact your healthcare provider. In the event of an emergency, please call 911.

             The above summary is the plain language summary of Desoto Regional’s policy. Below is the complete policy and legal language.

             By accessing, viewing and/or posting any content related directly or indirectly to Desoto Regional on any Social Media Site on the internet, you accept, without limitation or qualification, the following terms of use. If you do not agree to the terms of this Policy, you may not view or post any content to any Social Media Site on the internet. Your use of Social Media Sites is acceptance of this Policy and has the same effect as if you had actually physically signed an agreement.

1. All Desoto Regional employees must adhere to Desoto Regional’s Media and Social Networking Policy

2. You are prohibited from posting any content that is personal health information including patient images on any Desoto Regional Social Media Site. You are also prohibited from using the Social Media Site to provide medical advice or medical commentary.

3. You must be at least 18 years old to post any content on any Desoto Regional Social Media Site.

4. The opinions and or views expressed on Desoto Regional social media platforms, including, but not limited to, our blogs, bulletin pages, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, YouTube, and other platforms, represent the thoughts of individual bloggers and online communities, and not those necessarily of Desoto Regional or any of its affiliates or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, research staff, medical staff, or members of its respective boards. The opinions and views expressed on these pages do not in any way reflect the views of the site they are posted on, other sites affiliated with the site, the staff involved with maintaining the site, or any members of the site. While Desoto Regional makes every reasonable effort to monitor and/or moderate content posted on its social media platforms, we do not moderate all comments and cannot always respond in a timely manner to online requests for information, particularly outside of regular business hours.

5. As a guest posting content to any Desoto Regional Social Media Site or post on the internet, you agree that you will not: violate any local, state, federal or international laws and regulations, including but not limited to copyright and intellectual property rights laws regarding any content that you send or receive via this Policy; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email or otherwise) that is unlawful, disruptive, threatening, profane, abusive, harassing, embarrassing, tortuous, defamatory, obscene, libelous, or is an invasion of another's privacy, is hateful or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable as solely determined in Desoto Region's discretion; impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email or otherwise) that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email or otherwise) that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party; transmit (by uploading, posting, email or otherwise) any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, or any other form of solicitation; transmit any material (by uploading, posting, email or otherwise) that contains software viruses, worms, disabling code, or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; harass another; or collect or store, or attempt to collect or store, personal data about third parties without their knowledge or consent; or to share confidential pricing information of any party. 

6. Desoto Regional reserves the sole right to monitor, prohibit, review, edit, restrict, and/or delete any comments it deems inappropriate. Comments including but not limited to the following may be deleted or edited by the moderators:

            a. Comments that violate the privacy of our patients and their families; 

            b. Comments that violate copyright or other laws, or may be confidential;

            c. Abusive or hurtful comments about a blogger, staff member, or any other participant on our sites and/or social media channels;

            d. Off-topic and redundant comments, as well as spam (this includes promotion of events, groups, pages, websites, organizations, and programs not related to or affiliated with the hospital);

            e. Comments that use profane or vulgar language or “hate speech” (for example, including but not limited to racial, ethnic, or gender bashing language);

            f. Personal attacks or defamatory statements or comments (i.e., making negative personal or untrue comments about a participant), instead of just criticizing his/her posting, opinion, or comments; and

            g. Comments that constitute impersonation of another person or entity - or falsely states or misrepresents affiliation with another person or entity.

7. Information posted on our sites is not intended to be medical advice and should not be considered medical advice, nor is it intended to replace consultation with a qualified physician or other health care provider. All links to other websites found linked from Desoto Regional’s social media sites are provided as a service to readers, but such linkage does not constitute endorsement of those sites by Desoto Regional, and as such we are not responsible for the content of external third-party websites. 

8. By submitting content to any of Desoto Regional’s social media sites, you understand and acknowledge that this information is available to the public, and that Desoto Regional may use this information for internal and external publications and other communications. Other participants may use your posted information beyond the control of Desoto Regional. If you do not wish to have the information you have made available via this site used, published, copied, and/or reprinted, please do not post on the site.

9. You may not provide any content to any of Desoto Regional’s Social Media Sites that contains any product or service endorsements or any content that may be construed as political lobbying, solicitations or contributions or use the Social Media Site to link to any sites or political candidates or parties or use the Social Media Site to discuss political campaigns, issues or for taking a position on any legislation or law. 

10. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY RELATED TO THE SECURITY, PRIVACY, AND CONFIDENTIALITY RISKS INHERENT IN SENDING ANY CONTENT OVER THE INTERNET. By its very nature, a website AND THE INTERNET cannot be absolutely protected against intentional or malicious intrusion attempts. Desoto Regional does not control the THIRD PARTY SITES AND THE Internet over which you may choose to send confidential personal or health information OR OTHER CONTENT and, therefore, DESOTO REGIONAL DOES NOT WARRANT ANY SAFEGUARD AGAINST ANY such interceptions or compromises to your information. when posting any content on an internet site, you should think carefully about your own privacy in disclosing detailed or private information about yourself and your family.

11. THIS POLICY MAY BE UPDATED AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE, AND EACH TIME A USER ACCESSES A SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE, THE NEW POLICY WILL GOVERN, USAGE, EFFECTIVE UPON POSTING. To remain in compliance, Desoto Regional suggests that you review the Policy, as well as the other website policies, at regular intervals. By continuing to post any content after such new terms are posted, you accept and agree to any and all such modifications to this Policy.