Social Media & Legal Responsibility

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I think this article in the November issue of the AND journal is interesting and pertinent to what we will probably doing in the future since most health care organizations utilize some sort of social media. Because of its’ relaxed atmosphere, it may be easy to forget that the laws protecting privacy of patients and dispensing of medical nutrition advice still apply to this arena. Anti-trust laws protect against discussing pricing or the treatment of patients by other practitioners. And even casual comments about another practitioner can be construed as defamation of character. The article ends with advice about how to avoid these pitfalls and the legal problems and fines that can arise from violations.  J.Y.

Fox, M.  (2012). Legal risks of social media: what dietetics practitioners need to know.  Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112, 1718-1723.  Doi: 10.1016/j.and.2012.09.004

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