COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
Professional Conduct for the Surgzon Community
Effective Date: September 7, 2026
These Community Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) describe the standards of professional conduct that apply to your use of https://www.surgzon.com (the “Site”), our application, our Model(s), and the data, services, information, tools, functionality, updates, chat, audio and video calling, and similar materials (collectively, the “Service”) provided by Surgzon LLC (collectively, “Company”, “Surgzon”, “us” or “we”).
The Service is a professional community for surgeons, medical societies, and medical-device partners and vendors. These Guidelines are written with United States law in mind, including without limitation the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (“HIPAA”), the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, federal and state antitrust laws, federal and state wiretap and recording laws, and applicable state medical-privacy and professional-licensure rules. Users outside the United States remain responsible for the laws of their own jurisdictions as well, including the EU and UK GDPR where they apply.
By using the Service, you agree to follow these Guidelines. These Guidelines are incorporated into our Terms of Service [https://www.surgzon.com/pages/Term&condition.php] as if fully recited herein. Please also refer to our Privacy Policy [https://www.surgzon.com/pages/policy.php]. Terms defined in the Terms of Service that are not defined herein shall have the same definition as in the Terms of Service. If these Guidelines conflict with the Terms of Service on a matter of legal rights or obligations, the Terms of Service control. If they conflict on a matter of community conduct, these Guidelines control.
These Guidelines are intended to help Users comply with applicable law and professional norms. They are not legal, medical, or regulatory advice, and they do not create a physician–patient relationship, an attorney–client relationship, or a covered-entity or business-associate relationship with Surgzon. You remain solely responsible for your own compliance with HIPAA, HITECH, FDA, FTC, antitrust, anti-kickback, state medical-board, hospital, and other applicable requirements.
These Guidelines are subject to change. If they change, we will let you know by posting the revised Guidelines on the Service and/or otherwise making you aware of the changes. Your continued use of the Service following our notice of changes, or other method of legal acceptance, means you accept such changes. Please refer to the “Effective Date” above to see when these Guidelines were last updated.
1. Who These Guidelines Apply To
These Guidelines apply to every User of the Service, including surgeons and other clinicians, partners, vendors, society administrators, and our own personnel when they participate in community spaces. They apply to posts, publications, comments, product discussions, profiles, chat rooms and channels, direct messages, attachments, audio and video calls, and any other Content or Submissions you make available through the Service.
You represent and warrant that the professional information you provide is complete, accurate, and true, and that you, and if applicable the business or entity you represent, are licensed and qualified as required by applicable law to post, discuss, and make decisions based upon the materials you make available on the Service. You must not impersonate another person, practice, hospital, society, or company, or misstate your credentials, specialty, board certification, employment, or industry affiliation.
2. Purpose of the Community
The Service is designed to create a professional community for medical professionals and suppliers to interact, discuss medical devices and techniques, share opinions and experiences, and learn where to obtain certain medical devices. Content on the Service is for information and peer-education purposes only, and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and does not create a physician–patient relationship between you and any other User or between you and Surgzon.
Do not use the Service for emergency communication, to treat a specific identified patient, or as a substitute for your own clinical judgment, hospital protocols, or the applicable standard of care. If you are a patient or a member of the public, the Service is not a place to seek personal medical advice.
3. Patient Privacy and Protected Health Information
Protecting patients is the first obligation of this community. You must not post, upload, stream, attach, or otherwise make available through the Service any Protected Health Information (“PHI”) as defined by HIPAA (including 45 C.F.R. § 160.103), any information that could reasonably identify a patient, or any special-category health data of an identifiable natural person under the GDPR. This rule applies in public rooms, society rooms, product comments, publications, chat, direct messages, and calls. Surgzon is a professional networking Service; it is not your electronic health record, and it is not a HIPAA-authorized treatment, payment, or health-care operations channel.
A. No identifiable patients.
Do not include names; geographic details smaller than a state (street, city, county, precinct, or ZIP code, except as permitted by the HIPAA safe-harbor rule); dates (other than year) related to a patient, including birth, admission, discharge, or death; ages over 89; telephone, fax, or email addresses; Social Security, medical-record, health-plan, account, or license numbers; vehicle or device identifiers and serial numbers; URLs or IP addresses; biometric identifiers; full-face photographs and comparable images; or any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code. These are the identifiers that must be removed under the HIPAA Safe Harbor de-identification method (45 C.F.R. § 164.514(b)(2)). Removing a name alone is not enough. A rare diagnosis, an unusual implant, a distinctive tattoo or jewelry, a recognizable operating-room, hospital signage, or a combination of specialty, date, and location can still identify a patient.
B. Clinical images, video, audio, and files.
Intra-operative photographs and video, radiographs, CT/MRI/ultrasound studies, endoscopy, pathology slides, wound photographs, and similar materials may be shared only if they are fully de-identified. Crop or otherwise obscure faces, unique tattoos, jewelry, name boards, wristbands, and hospital identifiers. Strip metadata before upload, including DICOM headers, EXIF data, and filenames that contain patient or accession identifiers. Do not share operating-room audio that captures patient names, dates of birth, or case discussion from which a patient could be identified. If you cannot de-identify a case with reasonable confidence, do not post it.
C. Authorizations and your own legal duties.
If you are a covered entity, business associate, or workforce member under HIPAA, or are otherwise bound by state medical-privacy law (including, without limitation, the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act) or by your hospital’s or society’s policies, you remain bound by those duties when you use the Service. A patient’s oral permission, a routine consent-to-treat form, or an authorization that does not specifically permit posting on a professional social network is generally not a sufficient basis to share identifiable information here. Even with a valid written authorization, consider whether posting is professionally appropriate. Surgzon does not review your authorizations and does not accept PHI as a business associate unless we have executed a separate written Business Associate Agreement with you, which these Guidelines do not constitute.
D. Minors and sensitive conditions.
Cases involving minors, reproductive health, mental health, substance-use disorder (including records protected by 42 C.F.R. Part 2), HIV/AIDS, genetic information, or other highly sensitive conditions require extra care. When in doubt, do not post. The Service is not directed to children under 13; see our Privacy Policy and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
E. If PHI appears on the Service.
If you post PHI in error, delete it immediately if the Service permits, and email contact@surgzon.com with “Patient Privacy” in the subject line so we can remove residual copies where reasonably feasible. If you see PHI posted by someone else, do not copy, forward, or screenshot it. Report it using the in-Service reporting tools or the same email address. We may remove Content, restrict accounts, and, where required by law, cooperate with covered entities, regulators, or law enforcement.
4. Clinical Discussion, Standard of Care, and No Medical Advice
Peer discussion of techniques, complications, devices, and published literature is welcome when it is de-identified and in good faith. Such discussion is not a consult, is not a second opinion for a named patient, and is not a substitute for the standard of care in the treating clinician’s jurisdiction. Do not present a live, identifiable case and ask the community to direct that patient’s treatment. Do not hold out the Service, any Model, or any other User’s comments as a complete, current, or patient-specific medical recommendation. You are solely responsible for the actions you take and the decisions you make relating to or arising from your use of the Service.
5. Medical Devices, FDA Rules, and Industry Participation
Vendors, partners, and other industry Users must not use the Service to adulterate, misbrand, or falsely advertise a device, drug, or biologic, or to make claims that are inconsistent with the product’s FDA-cleared or approved labeling. Clinicians may discuss off-label use among peers for genuine scientific or educational purposes. Manufacturers, distributors, and their agents must not promote off-label uses, and must not ghost-write, seed, or steer such discussions as a substitute for lawful promotion.
Commercial claims must be truthful, not misleading, and fairly balanced, consistent with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, applicable FDA guidance, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Lanham Act. Do not use the Service to arrange or offer improper remuneration for referrals or purchases in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, the False Claims Act, or similar state laws. Disclose material conflicts of interest when you discuss a product, including consulting, royalties, equity, speakers’ bureau, or employment relationships with the manufacturer.
6. Antitrust and Competition
Surgzon is a place for professional education, not for coordinating the market. You must not use the Service (including society rooms, vendor channels, or direct messages) to discuss, agree, or exchange competitively sensitive information concerning prices, discounts, bids, salary or on-call rates, allocation of customers or territories, refusals to deal, or group boycotts. This applies to competing surgeons, competing hospitals, and competing manufacturers and distributors. Legitimate, non-collusive discussion of publicly available list prices or of a device’s clinical performance is permitted. If a conversation turns toward coordination of commercial terms, leave the conversation and report it.
7. Professional Conduct
Treat other Users with the courtesy expected of a professional medical community. You agree not to distribute, upload, make available, or otherwise publish through the Service any Submission or Content that:
● is unlawful or unethical, or that encourages another to engage in anything unlawful or unethical;
● is libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene, lewd, indecent, inappropriate, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, abusing, harassing, threatening, or bullying;
● constitutes discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable U.S. law;
● doxxes, stalks, or otherwise targets a person with unwanted contact;
● impersonates any other person or business, or misrepresents your affiliation; or
● contains a virus or any other similar programs or software which may damage the operation of our or another’s computer(s).
Good-faith professional disagreement, including criticism of a device, paper, or technique, is allowed when it is factual, de-identified, and not a personal attack. Gratuitous graphic imagery without educational purpose is not allowed. Do not shame patients, trainees, or colleagues. Do not use the Service to interfere with another clinician’s hospital privileges, board status, or employment by spreading allegations you know to be false.
8. Intellectual Property and Attribution
Do not post paywalled journal articles, textbooks, lectures, surgical videos, or other materials unless you own the rights or have a license that permits posting on the Service. Cite sources for data, images, and quotations. Respect trademarks and do not suggest that Surgzon, a society, a hospital, or a manufacturer endorses your Content unless that is true. Copyright complaints are handled under the Copyright Policy in our Terms of Service. Other rights complaints may be sent as described in the Complaint Policy in those Terms.
Do not present another User’s unpublished technique, slide deck, or case material as your own. Academic and professional honesty applies here as it does in a journal or a meeting.
9. Chat, Direct Messages, Calls, and Recording
The same rules apply in channels, society rooms, direct messages, attachments, and audio or video calls as in public posts. Chat Data is collected and archived as described in our Privacy Policy; do not put PHI or other prohibited material into chat on the assumption that it is ephemeral or private.
U.S. federal and state wiretap and recording laws may require the consent of one or all parties before a call or conversation is recorded. Several states require all-party consent. You must not record, transcribe (including by automated or AI tools), or broadcast a call, room, or direct message without any consent required by applicable law and without the actual consent of the participants. Do not screenshot or forward private messages to harass, defame, or professionally injure another User.
You may block and report other Users using the tools on the Service. Blocking stops further messages and calls between you; it does not erase prior Chat Data we retain as described in the Privacy Policy.
10. Spam, Solicitation, and Security
Do not harvest email addresses or other personal information of Users, send unsolicited bulk commercial messages, phish, or otherwise violate the CAN-SPAM Act or similar laws. Reasonable, relevant professional outreach about a device or educational event is permitted; deceptive or repetitive solicitation is not.
You must keep your username, password, and any other login credentials confidential and secure. Do not share an account. We are not responsible for unauthorized access to your Account by others (including your co-workers). You further agree that you will not interfere with or disrupt the Service, probe or breach security measures, transmit malware, or impose an unreasonable load on our infrastructure, as more fully described in the Terms of Service.
11. Illegal Content and Safety
You agree that you will not violate any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of the Service. Content that exploits or endangers children is strictly prohibited and will be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and/or law enforcement as required. Do not use the Service to traffic in controlled substances, to evade sanctions, or to threaten violence. If you believe a User is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services first, then notify us at contact@surgzon.com.
12. Reporting, Enforcement, and Termination
If you believe these Guidelines have been violated, use the in-Service report tools where available, or email contact@surgzon.com with enough detail for us to locate the Content (URL, username, date, and a description). Do not include PHI in your report if you can avoid it.
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to protect our users from violators and violations of these Guidelines, including but not limited to removing or limiting distribution of Content, restricting your use of the Service, immediately terminating your use of the Service, or blocking certain IP addresses. We have a policy of terminating repeat violators. We may also, where we believe in good faith that it is required or appropriate, notify a User’s institution, a medical board, a regulator, or law enforcement. Our unlimited right to terminate your access to the Service is not limited to violations of these Guidelines. All grants of rights from you to us related to Content, Submissions, or other materials, and your defense and indemnification obligations, survive termination as stated in the Terms of Service.
13. Territoriality
Regardless of where our servers are located, your personal data may be processed by us in the United States, where data protection and privacy regulations may or may not be to the same level of protection as in other parts of the world. BY VISITING THE SITE AND USING THE SERVICE, YOU UNEQUIVOCALLY AND UNAMBIGUOUSLY CONSENT TO THE COLLECTION AND PROCESSING IN THE UNITED STATES OF ANY INFORMATION COLLECTED OR OBTAINED BY US THROUGH VOLUNTARY SUBMISSIONS, AND, TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, THAT U.S. LAW GOVERNS ANY SUCH COLLECTION AND PROCESSING.
14. Contact Information.
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding these Community Guidelines, or need to report a patient-privacy or safety concern, please contact us at:
Surgzon LLC
845 Third Avenue, Suite 1703
New York, NY 10022
ATT: Legal Dept.
Copyright © Surgzon LLC. All rights reserved. The Service is our property, and is protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws. This includes the content, appearance, and design of the Service, as well as the trademarks, product names, graphics, logos, service names, slogans, colors, and designs.