These terms of use apply to your use of our theheart.org Web site. We have other Web sites that are covered by different terms of use. The terms of use for each of our Web sites are available on the home page of that Web site. When you leave one of our Web sites and go to another Web site (whether controlled by us or by a third party), different terms may apply.

theheart.org (www.theheart.org) is owned and operated by Medscape, LLC, and is one of its Web Sites for physicians and allied health care professionals. When we refer to ourselves as "we" or "theheart.org", we mean our company, Medscape, LLC, including any subsidiary we control (for example, a subsidiary we own).

We include a lot of information on theheart.org, including articles, references, tools, continuing education for medical professionals, and advertising. Please remember that all of the information on theheart.org is meant for adults who are licensed healthcare professionals. While we hope you find it helpful, you should remember that it is not meant to serve as a substitute for your own clinical judgment as a healthcare professional. If you are a consumer who chooses to use the professional-level information on theheart.org, you should not rely on that information as professional medical advice or use it to replace any relationship with your physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about medications and other treatments, consumers should always consult their physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel.

We follow a standard set of editorial procedures for information that we put on theheart.org. However, we don't offer you any warranty or guarantee related to our Web sites. We specifically disclaim any warranties, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It's your job to evaluate the information and results from tools we provide. If you are a healthcare professional, you should exercise your professional judgment in evaluating any information, and we encourage you to confirm the information contained on our Web site with other sources before undertaking any treatment based on it. If you are a consumer, you should evaluate the information together with your physician or another qualified healthcare professional.

Some information on our Web site comes from you or from other users. We're not responsible for that information. Whether the information comes from us or from you, we're not liable for any damages resulting from your use of the information on our Web site.

Although we are selective about the organizations we link to, we don't assume any responsibility for any Web sites that are linked to our site or that you browse to after following a link from our site.

While we welcome your feedback on theheart.org., we must make the final decisions about the content that is posted on the site to make sure it meets the needs of all our readers. You can use the feedback link on our home page to send us comments and criticisms, but if you are dissatisfied with our response or with the contents of theheart.org, your only remedy is to stop using the Web site.

We include clinical tools and databases intended for the use of healthcare professionals on our Web site. Our tools don't give professional advice or recommend particular products. Physicians and other healthcare professionals who use our tools or databases should exercise their own clinical judgment as to the results. Consumers who use the tools or databases do so at their own risk.

Individuals with any type of medical condition are specifically cautioned to seek professional medical advice before beginning any sort of health treatment. For medical concerns, including decisions about medications and other treatments, users should always consult their physician or other qualified healthcare professional.

Copyright

We or our partners own the information on theheart.org. In fact, the entire contents and design of theheart.org are protected under U.S. and international copyright laws. You may look at our Web site online, download individual articles to your personal or handheld computer for later reading, and even print a reasonable number of copies of pages for yourself, your family, or friends. You must not remove any copyright notices from our materials. We reserve all our other rights. Among other things, this means you must not sell our information, rewrite or modify it, redistribute it, put it on your own Web site, or use it for any commercial purpose without our prior written permission.

Trademarks

We also own the names we use for our products and services on theheart.org, and these names are protected by trademark laws in the U.S. and internationally. An ® following a name on our site indicates that the trademark has been registered in the United States. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. If your activities are noncommercial, you may make use of our trademarks by linking to us or discussing us with others, as long as you make it clear that we are the owner of the trademark. Any other uses of our trademarks require our prior written approval.

You may not use theheart.org's trademarks in any of the following ways:

• In a non- theheart.org product name or publication title.
• Within or as part of your own trademarks.
• To identify non- theheart.org products or services.
• In a manner which will likely cause confusion.
• In a manner that implies that theheart.org sponsors, endorses or is otherwise connected with your own activities, products, or services.
• In a manner that disparages theheart.org.

Linking to Us

Usually, we don't mind if you have a simple link from your Web site to ours. However, you must first ask our permission if you intend to frame our site or incorporate pieces of it into a different site or product in a way that is not clear to our users. You aren't allowed to link to us if you engage in illegal, obscene, or offensive content, or if the link in any way has a negative impact on our reputation.

Information that You Put on Our Web Site

When you place materials or information on our web site that are available publicly, you give us an irrevocable, perpetual license to use that information. For example, we have the right to display a comment that you post on one of our discussion boards for as long as we want. We will consider requests to remove information that you make publicly available on our Web sites on an individual basis (contact us at the email address we give at the end of this document).

For information and materials you place on our Web sites that is not publicly available, please see our privacy policy for an explanation of how we use that information and your rights to change or delete it. We provide the link for our privacy policy later in this document.

We ask that you not post any messages with misleading, false, or inappropriate language or statements. We reserve the right to remove any offensive or fraudulent content at any time without your consent.

Software Products

We make some software and accompanying documentation available for downloading from our Web sites. These materials are the copyrighted work of theheart.org or companies that have licensed the software to us. We do not transfer any ownership rights in software our documentation to you when you download it from our Web sites; rather, you are allowed to use the software and documentation under the terms of a license agreement. You must read the license agreement that accompanies each product and indicate your agreement to those terms prior to downloading. You are not authorized to attempt to recreate or reverse engineer our software. In addition, some software available on our Web sites is subject to United States export controls. By downloading or using such software, you are representing to us that your download of such software complies with these controls.

Passwords

theheart.org has several tools that allow you to record and store information. You are responsible for taking all reasonable steps to ensure that no unauthorized person shall have access to your passwords or accounts. It is your sole responsibility to (1) control the dissemination and use of activation codes and passwords; (2) authorize, monitor, and control access to and use of your account and password; (3) promptly inform us of any need to deactivate a password. You grant us and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of the Site the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store, and use your information in connection with the operation of the Site. theheart.org cannot and does not assume any responsibility or liability for any information you submit, or your or third parties' use or misuse of information transmitted or received using our tools and services.

U.S. Government End Users

If you are affiliated with the U.S. government, then you should know that the software and documentation available on our Web sites are "commercial items," as that term is defined in 48 C.F.R. 2.101 (October 1995), consisting of "commercial computer software" and "commercial computer software documentation," as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. 12.212 (September 1995). Consistent with 48 C.F.R. 12.212 and 48 C.F.R. 227.7202-1 through 27.7202-4 (June 1995), all U.S. government end users acquire the software and documentation with only those rights set forth herein.

Medscape, LLC controls the theheart.org Web sites from its offices within the state of New York in the United States of America. The Web sites can be accessed from any of the United States and from other countries worldwide. Since the laws of each State or country able to access the Web sites may differ, by accessing the Web sites both you and theheart.org agree that the statutes and laws of the state of New York, without regard to choice of laws principles, will apply to all matters relating to use of our Web sites.

theheart.org makes no representation that materials on these Web sites are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access these sites from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

Acceptance Procedure

By accessing materials on our Web site or registering you agree with all the terms and conditions of this agreement.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change the terms and conditions of this Agreement from time to time, and your continuing use of our Web sites constitutes your acceptance of and agreement to any changed terms and conditions. We will post any such changes in a timely manner, and draw your attention to any significant changes.

Consequences

If you don't comply with these terms, we have the right to suspend or eliminate your account, and remove any information you have placed on our site. We may also take any legal action we think is appropriate. If your violation of this agreement causes harm to others, you agree to hold theheart.org harmless against any liability for that harm. If there is any dispute between us concerning this agreement or your use of our Web site, we both agree to submit the dispute to non-binding mediation, followed by binding arbitration. Both the mediation and the arbitration will be governed under the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and the venue for the arbitration will be New York.

For questions or concerns about these terms of use, please send an email to info@theheart.org.