In the Know: Health and Wellness Website Legalities
When Health Consulting Firms Are Legally Liable
One thing the Internet is infamous for is being a source of advice for our health and well-being.
No matter where we go, there is someone with a website that tells us what to do to lose weight, delay aging, or treat our diseases.
We all do. We don’t feel well, so we type our symptoms into “Dr. Google” and voila, thousands of results tell us that we have everything from the common cold to 6 months to live. Then we take our results to our doctor and tell him what we have.
Unfortunately, health care industry professionals, physicians, therapists, dietitians, and nutritionists all struggle with misinformation provided on the Internet every day.
If you are a blogger and have any experience with health related issues, you may want to share this information with the world.
Or you may be a professional with some education on certain health-related topics and you want to use that information to boost your online business.
Either way, you need to be very careful to follow the rules when it comes to providing information and advice to the masses on the health and wellness website.
Legal Responsibilities for Providing Health-Related Advice
So what are the legal issues for health advisory and consulting companies when they provide health-related information on a website?
There have been more than a few lawsuits in recent years that have stemmed from sharing health and diet tips with others on the internet.
In a recent lawsuit in North Carolina, a blogger changed his life and was experienced in managing his type 1 diabetes by using the Paleo diet. She blogged about her efforts, and when it was successful, she took her blog one step further and began sharing her eating plans and exercise regimens.
Over time, he began offering individual sessions to advise his readers on the ways of his experience for a fee.
In North Carolina, there is a misdemeanor law that prohibits the practice of dietetics or nutrition without a license. This blogger was charged with violating this law and the North Carolina Board of Dietetics / Nutrition is now threatening him with jail time.
Investigate the rules and regulations of all governing bodies
When providing health and wellness information online, you must ensure that you follow all the rules.
Each governing body has separate rules about what information can and cannot advise the public regarding your health.
Canada and the United States have specific federal laws and then each province and state also has their own separate laws.
If you are going to provide information, you should look up those laws based on where you live and where you do business from. And to go one step further, you need to consider the audience you are targeting.
A good guideline to follow if you provide health-related information on your website is to ask yourself if you are being specific to a particular personal health situation. The in-lawsuit blogger from North Carolina was fine with providing his personal experiences with the Paleo diet.
Your suggestions for exercise regimens or providing your personal diet plans on your health and nutrition website may even have been in accordance with the law, but as soon as you started consulting with individuals one-on-one and providing advice, it was beyond sharing. your personal experience. and fell into the realm of providing medical expertise in an area in which he was not legally certified to participate.
Remember, giving your opinion on a health-related topic or telling your specific experience is one thing, but if you claim to be an expert on something on your health and nutrition website, the boards responsible for governing public education on the matter and they run into legal issues.
You must not in any way claim or impersonate anything other than if you are going to provide reliable medical information.
If you are providing health or wellness advice, you need to be very clear about your education and experience, and also be very careful about the legal issues surrounding any advice you provide.
This is where working with a professional web development company could help steer you in the right direction and ensure that you are not posting anything that could cause you legal trouble while operating your business. It would also be very wise to consult an attorney who is well versed in these matters.