medical advice ???

aliasojo

kaya wrote: »

How utterly ridiculous, so we can take advice on how to repair microwaves(extremely dangerous) and offer advice on how to perform repairs on Gas appliances,(!!!!!! you even have a section how to gamble all your money away) but you all believe that stating how you got on with a particular drug is more dangerous and likely to injure someone? I don't think this board has been very well thought out really has it?

I see your point entirely but the thing is.....it HAS been thought out well simply because it's had to take into account the ever growing section of society who are idiots.

Mr or Mrs Numpty reads something on a site such as this, takes it as gospel and acts on it personally. The effects they experience are different to the effects the original poster had, so they either cause more health issues for themselves or they decide to get all antsy about it and maybe even try to sue the site owner for allowing misleading information to be posted. :rolleyes:

I have to admit to experiencing high levels of frustration with regard to the Health Board, because I am intelligent, I am able to read other people's words and take them only as an interesting opinion so I object to being 'nannyied' in this way....however I completely understand the need to do so......there are plenty out there who weren't blessed with a fair share of common sense.

If it were my site, I wouldn't run the risk of some idiot making an issue over something he read either.

Glad

LittleTinker wrote: »

Hmmm....but it is said 100's of times all over these boards what people do for a headache....what to do about stings/burns/rashes.....what are the best vitamins to buy......is it safe to take a when doing b.

Why are some posts removed for sometimes valid questions and others arent?

Also, asking someone "How did you find Tramadol when you were taking it?" is not asking medical advice.

It isn't asking for moneysaving advice either

this is a moneysaving forum, due to it's sheer size many posts will be made that are against the site rules, but they only get removed if they are reported, or the team/BG's read them.

Quasar

kaya wrote: »

How utterly ridiculous, so we can take advice on how to repair microwaves(extremely dangerous) and offer advice on how to perform repairs on Gas appliances,(!!!!!! you even have a section how to gamble all your money away) but you all believe that stating how you got on with a particular drug is more dangerous and likely to injure someone? I don't think this board has been very well thought out really has it?

Well, the fact of the matter is that medical advice or perceived medical advice could land a site into trouble. The law is clear: only a doctor can diagnose and prescribe. And a clever lawyer could so easily construct a case based on a post sayin "Oh I took (this) and did (this) and now I'm right as rain". Sad I know, but true.

I don't know what the law on advising on gas appliances is, so I cannot comment on that.

Then again we could extend this to not posting we bought that great pair of shoes with a 4 inch stiletto heel because some woman might rush to buy them, sprain and ankle and wahay its our fault in here. Believe me or not, some peeps out there will shift the blame on anyone but themselves.

The site has to protect itself from potential lawsuits, and with over 400k members there is an increasing number of posts advising or reporting on a range of things that could cause harm. Perhaps it's about time each such post carries a disclaimer?

I for one enjoy mse immensely and wouldn't wish it to run into legal wrangles. This forum is enormous and board guides are human so cannot see everything. I still recommend that all of us exercise self-moderation and either don't post certain things OR put a very clear disclaimer in our posts.

Quasar

aliasojo wrote: »

If it were my site, I wouldn't run the risk of some idiot making an issue over something he read either.

Over on a forum I moderate we had a user posting a glowing recommendation for vitamins as a cure/prevention for some ailment or other. While I admit that I personally found the post interesting, I had to place a disclaimer in order to protect the site (and undiscerning users). I was met with the predictable sneering, but the disclaimer stays. Admittedly it is a very small and quiet forum and doesn't require constant watching.

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=5574000&postcount=10331:pTut tut Q

Touche'.

See how easy it is? A simple advice for getting over a cold and yes, it was medical advice of sorts. In my defence, myself and the user in question were already discussing something by PM, but I accept that a reader with a heavy cold might have taken that as advice while a doctor visit would have been appropriate.

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

Thats my particular point Q,the arms,dt and other boards are littered with well intentioned off the cuff advice like that,its just that the health board seems to be watched closely while lots of similar and even worse medical advice is littered all over the boards.If its moderated for medical stuff like that then every board should also be as closely watched

Well there we go, the forum is enormous and it generates something like 30 paperbacks worth of text per day, so it is impossible to vet every thread an posts, particularly the idle chat thread where there is no well defined topic and anything and everyting is posted.

I do believe the solution is for us to be vigilant in what we say and remind other users - probably sparking a few tiffs here and there. Or as a last resort report 'medical advice' posts, which is harsh but I fail to see an alternative.

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

Aww look a BG with favouritism:p

LOL, BGs are also users and they agree or disagree with posts just as the rest of us do. Except that they always have to behave and not post naughty stuff, and I don't know how they cope...

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

oh dear Q:rotfl:


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1227100&postcount=1

For this one here I was told that I couldn't get medical advice - or something like that, or there was a post to that effect, and lets' face it, if you look at the date of the post you will see I was still relatively new and didn't know the ropes yet. So I won't accept this particular criticism, sorry.

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http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2015574&postcount=4652

Hmmmm a bit vague but yes, someone particularly stupid could rush in and think I gave them advice (not aurora borealis, the poster I was answering to, as she is a doctor herself)


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=2550462&postcount=3583



Yep another slip of the keyboard here...

I suppose that if you are so inclined and have the time, you could find lots more by myself and other users, which is why perhaps the present thread is very timely and I hope will help us all be more careful from now on. Anything else I should add?

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

You said in a post earlier that we should all be vigilant and report anything we might suspect as against site rules concerning health.I thought i was going by your advice.Should we look for them or not?Might be an idea to leave this thread here and if anyone sees a post that might contravene the "health" rule they can post a link to it here,and when a BG or abuse has time they can read the thread and remove those that are unsuitable,or is that to easy:D

Or you could trawl the whole of the forum and dig up all these offending posts, as you seem so good at it. Dunno, maybe one of the BG will offer advice.

Quasar

jack* wrote: »

They don't offend me,they offend Martin,as far as i'm concerned you could post about anything,i thought i was doing a favour by pointing them out:o

When I said "offending" I meant offending against the rules. Yes I think you did a favour in pointing them out, and as I said in my previous post, it's so easy inadvertently to give out opinion/information that can be taken as medical advice. I believe most of us, including some BGs, have done this at one point or another.

Digging out past posts is no doubt useful as a reminder to all of us to be more careful in the future. However I don't recall this issue being extensively debated before, so NOW we are seeing clearly that some of us were at fault at some time or other.