I met Anjuli Hicks, a licensed counselor, over the phone today. We got to talking about blogs and providing useful information for her patients and clients. One concern she brought up was in mental health counseling there is a very strict ethics requirement to protect the patient from doing themselves any harm.

What if a reader had suicidal thoughts and misconstrued an article and hurt him/herself as a result?

This concern is valid for really any type of healthcare practitioner from mental health, to physical health to veterinarian health.

I see 2 parts to this question:

1. Protecting the actual patient from doing something harmful
2. Protecting yourself from malpractice and related unpleasantness

The 2nd is the easiest to answer as it has a concrete response that’s been proven out over the last 10 years. Websites have a Terms of Use page. This web page is a legal document posted on your website that, in effect says, by reading the website, the reader agrees not to hold you accountable. These Terms of Use are very standard now and offer a good deal of protection for the author.

Here’s WebMD.com’s Terms of Use. They do have a Mental Health section of their website. They also provide a general information disclaimer that you can see on the bottom of every page.

As for the 1st part of the ethics and blogs question, yes, this is more complicated. WebMD has been very successful, so I’ll use them as an example. The articles they post generally don’t rock the boat on thoroughly accepted medical practices. For example, their article on whether antidepressents might be harmful walks right down the established road. And I definitely wouldn’t expect to see an article that says throw out your antidepressants. In these articles they do not add any additional disclaimers; all they have is the Terms of Use and the additional statement at the bottom of the page.

But what if you don’t want to limit your articles?

Well, here’s another WebMD page that on the bottom has a blurb about Cymbalta, an antidepressant. The text has right at the top a big, bolded instruction that tells the reader, if they have suicidal thoughts to immediately call a doctor.

I did not easily find medical professionals talking about not using antidepressants as a rule. There is a Washington Post article on a study linking antidepressants with suicide. They are not medical professionals, though, so its hard to take anything away from this example.

My conclusion, so far, is to be conservative in your writing on topics that may in any way potentially expose the wrong person to a dangerous situation. In any case, blog articles are meant to be helpful, not curative. The percentage of articles that you write on these “high risk” topics should be very low, if not zero.

Also, keep your articles very specific. Instead of writing an article “10 things to help you through your depression”, writing something like “10 techniques to stay focused in your class or office”. This way you can more easily avoid reader confusion or mis-understandings.

So what are your options to write about health issues online?

1. Protect yourself with a good, solid Terms of Use. Email me and I’ll shoot you several resources to find medical terms of use for about $30.
2. Have an additional statement on the bottom of every page saying you are not diagnosing or providing medical advice.
3. If you’re writing on a “safe” topic, maybe dealing with ADHD in school or bandaging minor abrasion, you don’t have to do anything else.
4. If you’re writing on a topic that might be potentially dangerous to the wrong person (or you have any doubt), there’s nothing wrong with putting a large, bolded instruction/warning to call a doctor or dial 911 if the reader might be at risk of serious injury. BUT before writing, ask yourself if the article is really needed, or if you can focus the article on a more specific, safer topic.
5. Another option to consider if you find yourself writing on tough topics often is to make the articles private to only your patients. That option might give you a little more control over the readership.

We have several excellent attorneys that we consult with. Let us know if you want further legal advice on these topics.

— This article and website does not provide legal advice. The writings, marketing advice and topics covered do not replace a qualified, licensed attorney. Please see our Terms of Use for more information.

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Legal, Legal Protection by Chris