o
Online Terms of Use
Guidelines for User Comments
Online Privacy Policy

 

Online Terms of Use

Last Updated January 2021

By accessing the AANS Neurosurgeon website (the “Site”), which is operated by or on behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (“AANS”), you agree to the following terms of use. If you do not agree to the following terms, please discontinue your use of this site immediately.

The entire contents of the Site are copyrighted by the AANS.

© Copyright 2008-2024 AANS. All rights reserved.

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Content Disclaimer

Anything appearing on this Site (the “Content”) is intended for the personal use of users of this Site only. While you may interact with or download a single copy of any portion of the Content for your personal, non-commercial information or use, you may not reproduce, sell, publish, distribute, modify, display, repost or otherwise use any portion of the Content in any other way or for any other purpose without the prior written permission of the AANS.

Requests regarding use of the content for any purpose other than personal, non-commercial use should be directed to: [email protected].

Online Privacy Policy

Please review our Online Privacy Policy to understand our practices related to our collection and use of personal information via the Site.

Legal Disclaimers

No Medical Advice. The information posted here by the AANS or any third party should not be considered medical advice and is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified neurosurgical professional. The AANS does not answer specific medical questions or refer people to a particular neurosurgical professional.

No Financial or Legal Advice. The information posted here by the AANS or any third party should not be considered financial and/or legal advice and is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified professional. The AANS does not provide financial and/or legal advice and, further, does not refer people to particular financial professionals or attorneys.

No Warranties. All information and materials provided on this Site, as well as links to third-party sites, are provided on an “AS IS,” “WHERE IS” and “WHERE AVAILABLE” basis and subject to change without notice. The AANS does not warrant the information or materials provided herein or your use of this Site, either expressly or impliedly, for any particular purpose and expressly disclaims all implied warranties, including but not limited to, warranties of title, non-infringement, and/or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The AANS does not guarantee the accuracy, validity, timeliness or completeness of any information or data provided on this Site. The AANS does not warrant that functions contained on this Site will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that this Site or the server are free of viruses or other harmful components. The AANS does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or secure access to the Site.

Disclaimer of Liability. The user assumes all responsibility and risk for the use of this Site and the Internet generally. Under no circumstances, including negligence, shall the AANS or anyone else involved in creating or maintaining this Site be liable for any DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL or CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, or LOST PROFITS that result from the use or inability to use the Site and/or any other websites which are linked to this Site. Nor shall the AANS be liable for any such damages including, but not limited to, reliance by a member or visitor on any information obtained via the Site; or that result from mistakes, omissions, interruptions, deletion of files, viruses, errors, defects, or any failure of performance, communications failure, theft, destruction or unauthorized access.

In states which do not allow some or all of the above limitations of liability, liability shall be limited to the greatest extent allowed by law.

Online Conduct. Members and visitors agree to use the Site only for lawful purposes and are prohibited from posting on the Site any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory or obscene material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law.

Third Party Content. The AANS is a DISTRIBUTOR (NOT A PUBLISHER) of the content supplied by members, visitors and other third parties. Accordingly, the AANS has no more editorial control over this content than does a public library. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content made available by members, visitors and other third parties are those of the respective author(s) and the AANS is not responsible for any material posted by third parties. The AANS cannot and does not endorse it in any way, nor does it vouch for its accuracy or usefulness. Furthermore, the AANS expressly disclaims any liability associated with material posted by third parties.

Disclaimer of Endorsement. Reference to any products, services, hypertext link to third parties or other information by trade name, trademark, supplier or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation by the AANS.

Guidelines for User Comments

To help you gain the most from this Site, visitors to the Site are able to register to post comments regarding articles contained in the Site. Below are some general guidelines for posting comments on the Site. By posting comments on the Site, you have agreed to adhere to the guidelines shown below. We reserve the right to modify them at any time. By using this Site after changes have been posted, you have agreed to the terms and conditions and accept those changes, whether or not you have reviewed them.

Comments Are for Publication. “Comments,” including any post, information, statement, image, or other means of communication made by a user on this Site, will become public on the Site. Your text will be available to anyone with an Internet connection. All Comments are created for the purpose of being published on the Internet and all Comments are provided for use on the Internet through the Site. All users consent to their Comments being published on the Internet and any language to the contrary contained in a Comment will not be acknowledged.

Compliance with HIPAA. All users acknowledge and warrant that any Comment or internet link contained within a Comment posted on this Site does not disclose private and confidential patient information. Further, all users acknowledge and warrant that any Comment or internet link contained within a Comment complies with the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Editor’s Rights. This Site reflects diverse topics for discussion. We hope that you enjoy lively discussions while adhering to the guidelines set forth herein. We do not want to censor Comments based on the opinions expressed within a Comment, but we will enforce the policies outlined herein. We reserve the right to post, not post, remove, not remove, post in part or modify Comments at our discretion and without explanation. We reserve the right to publish, screen, remove, edit, withdraw, or postpone any Comments considered to be obscene, lewd, violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable and not in accord with the purposes of this Site, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected. Although we are not responsible for the Comments posted on the Site, we reserve the right to remove any Comments that, in our judgment, do not meet these guidelines.

We invite and encourage a healthy exchange of opinions. If you disagree with a user’s Comment, challenge the opinion but do so with a sense of respect for the other person. Name calling, insults, and attacks are inappropriate. Agree to disagree in a respectful manner.

Not the Opinions of the AANS or the AANS Neurosurgeon. The AANS does not control or endorse the Comments found on the Site and, therefore, the AANS specifically disclaims any liability with regard to the content of the Comments and any actions resulting from your participation on the Site. We in no way verify any statement of fact or opinion provided by a user on this Site. Although we are not responsible for any Comments on the Site, the AANS reserves the right at all times to disclose any information necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request.

English Only. All Comments are limited to the English language. This includes posts, titles, signatures, and any attachments or other forms of public display. Additionally, these guidelines apply to all users, regardless of the user’s residence or citizenship.

Commercial Messages Prohibited. You may not post any message that is commercial by nature. Do not post commercial messages or solicitations on the Site. Comments containing commercial or product/service promotional messages including, but not limited to, references to Internet sites, URLs, or links to other commercial websites will be removed.

Public Forum. Bear in mind that the Site is “public,” and other users will have access to your Comments and might copy, modify or distribute them. By posting content here, you are representing that you are the owner of such material or have authorization to distribute the material. Once you post content on this Site, you expressly grant to the AANS the complete right to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, etc., the content in any form, anywhere.

Do Not Repeat Messages. Do not post the same Comment more than once on this Site.

Intellectual Property. By submitting or posting content here, you are representing that you are the owner of such material or have authorization to distribute the material. Information that is copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the user should not be posted on the Site without the consent of the owner. All quotations or references to outside materials not created by the user must be properly referenced and cited, identifying the author or source of said quotation or reference. Users will be held legally liable for any Comment posted to this Site, and may be held legally accountable if the Comment they post include(s) material that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or any other intellectual property or the proprietary right(s) of any person or entity. If such an event occurs, the individual posting the information will be held solely responsible. The AANS will not be held responsible for user-posted information that may violate intellectual property laws.

Prepublication. Comments on the Internet and on this Site may be considered prepublication by many scientific journals and societies. The AANS assumes no responsibility for the copyright status of any and all submissions published on the Site, and makes no inquiries pertaining to prepublication, plagiarism or any third-party rights which may apply.

Attachments. Please do not include attachments to Comments posted on the Site. Comments containing attachments of any kind will not be posted on, or will be removed from, the Site.

Termination of Ability to Post Comments. We reserve the right to terminate or discontinue the ability to post Comments on this Site for any reason without warning to Users.

Trademarks

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.

Notice and Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement

Pursuant to Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2), notifications of claimed copyright infringement under United States copyright law should be sent to the Site’s Service Provider’s Designated Agent: AANS, 5550 Meadowbrook Dr., Rolling Meadows, IL 60008, 847-378-0500, [email protected].

ALL INQUIRIES NOT RELEVANT TO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE WILL RECEIVE NO RESPONSE.

Substantive Laws of the State of Illinois Apply

These Terms of Use are governed by the substantive laws of the State of Illinois, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. You agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts situated in the State of Illinois with respect to any dispute, disagreement, or cause of action related to or involving this Site. If any provision is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms of Use, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of any of these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term. Except as expressly provided elsewhere in our Site, these Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement between you and the AANS with respect to your use of the Site.

Information Subject to Change

Any information on this Site may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Furthermore, the information may change from time to time without any notice.

Passwords

Members are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of their passwords and are liable for any harm caused by disclosing or allowing disclosure of any password.

THESE LEGAL NOTICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

Online Privacy Policy

 

Privacy Statement 
Last Updated April 2010

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (“AANS”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it at all times. The AANS strongly believes that if electronic commerce and online activities are to flourish, consumers must be assured that information provided online is used responsibly and appropriately. This online privacy statement explains how the AANS collects, uses and safeguards information on the AANS Neurosurgeon website. This Online Privacy Statement applies only to information collected by the AANS through this website. To protect online privacy, the AANS has implemented the following policy.

Scope of the Online Privacy Policy

This policy applies to your use of the www.aansneurosurgeon.org website (the “Site”), which is operated by or on behalf of the AANS. This policy does not apply to your use of other websites to which this Site may link. This policy covers only information collected on this Site and does not cover any information collected offline by us.

Changes to the Online Privacy Statement

As our organization, membership and benefits change from time to time, this Online Privacy Statement is expected to change as well. We reserve the right to amend the Internet Privacy Statement at any time, for any reason. We will post a notice that this Online Privacy Statement has been amended by revising the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.

Information Collection 

Most data the AANS collects are used only to help the AANS better serve its members and the neurosurgical community. It is our policy to collect and store only personal information that our members and visitors knowingly provide.

From General Users. The AANS does not collect personal information from users browsing this Site, except through specific feedback forms. Completion of these forms is optional. Users of the public areas of the Site browse anonymously. Only aggregate data — such as the number of hits per page — are collected. Aggregate data are only used for internal and marketing purposes and do not provide any personally identifying information.

From Registered Users. Information provided to the AANS through Comment registration includes Name and e-mail address. Additionally, for some e-mails sent by the AANS to users through its list servers and electronic newsletters, the AANS will monitor whether a recipient subsequently clicks through to links provided in the message. This information is for the exclusive use of the AANS and is used to enhance its products and the distribution of those products to its members.

Information Uses 

Personal information may be used for internal AANS purposes by authorized AANS staff. Personal information will not be released to third parties. At the current time, we are not aware of any other circumstances under which the AANS will provide or sell personal information collected online to third parties.

THESE LEGAL NOTICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email