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This internet web site known as www.midwestclinic.org (the “Site”) is owned by The Midwest Clinic, an Illinois Not-For-Profit corporation.  Use of this Site is subject to the following terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”). 

The term “you”, “reader” or “viewer” refers to the user of this Site.  Your use of this Site constitutes your agreement to be bound by, and to act in accordance with, these Terms of Use. By accessing, browsing and/or using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.  If you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions, you are prohibited from accessing and using this Site.  Your use of the Site reaffirms your continuing agreement to the then current Terms of Use.

This Site is provided for informational purposes only.  You should engage a qualified professional to address your questions and provide you with advice. 

COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK.
The Midwest Clinic owns the copyright for all the material on the Site, such as text, graphics, button icons, images, and software, or has the right to use same on the Site.  The materials are protected by U.S. and international copyright laws.  The Midwest Clinic also owns or has the right to use all trademarks, service marks, and trade names used on this Site.  No part of this Site may be reproduced, copied, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way except that (a) you may download one copy of the materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright, trademark and other proprietary notices on the materials and (b) you are hereby granted permission to quote brief passages from this Site on the condition that attribution is contemporaneously given to The Midwest Clinic and any disclosed author.  Any modifications of the materials or use of the materials for any other purpose is a violation of The Midwest Clinic’s copyright and other proprietary rights.  The use of such material on any other website or computer network without The Midwest Clinic’s written consent is strictly prohibited. Your use of the trademarks, service marks and trade names on this Site in any manner other than as authorized in this Terms of Use, or as otherwise authorized in writing by The Midwest Clinic, is strictly prohibited.

NO TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE.
This Site is not intended to provide any tax, legal, financial planning, insurance, accounting, investment, or any other kind of professional advice or services, and nothing on this Site should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any security, insurance policy, or investment strategy. 

UNITED STATES OPERATED WEBSITE.
The Midwest Clinic controls and operates this Site from within the United States of America. The Midwest Clinic makes no representation that materials in this Site or the conduct described thereby are appropriate or available for use in other locations.  All visitors to this Site are responsible for compliance with all local laws applicable to them with respect to the content and operation of this Site.

LINKS AND LINKING.
For your convenience and enjoyment, this Site may provide links to other websites that are not under the control of or operated by The Midwest Clinic.  The Midwest Clinic is not responsible for the contents of any linked website and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of information on such third-party websites, nor does the inclusion of any link necessarily imply that The Midwest Clinic endorses, approves, or sponsors any information available at the linked site or any products that may be sold there. If you access any of the third-party sites linked to this Site, you do so entirely at your own risk.  The Midwest Clinic is not liable for any damage that might result from your use of such information or products. User activity on those sites is covered by the terms of use and privacy policies on those sites.

USER GENERATED CONTENT.
In General.
  We may offer you the opportunity to comment on, and engage in, discussions regarding articles, companies and various topics on the Site by posting your content on our blogs, forums, social networking channels and community boards.  Any content, information, graphics, audio, images, and links you submit as part of creating your profile or in connection with any of the foregoing activities are referred to, collectively, as "User Content" in these Terms of Use and is subject to various terms and conditions as set forth below.

No Review.  We do not routinely screen, edit or review User Content and have no obligation to verify the accuracy of any personally indentifying information that is posted to the Site. We do not guarantee that we will display or continue to display User Content you or other users submit to the Site. You acknowledge that visitors to the Site may post comments about your User Content which may be derogatory and that we have no obligation to monitor or delete such comments. We reserve the right to edit or abridge User Content for any reason and to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove User Content, in whole or in part, in our sole and absolute discretion. By editing User Content, we assume no responsibility for the content of such User Content. Under no circumstances will The Midwest Clinic be liable for any inaccuracy or defect in User Content.

No Endorsement.  You understand and agree that User Content also includes information, views, opinions and recommendations of many individuals and organizations that you may use to help you make your own decisions.  We do not endorse any recommendation or opinion made by any user.  You should also be aware that other users may use the Site for personal gain and that User Content may be misleading, deceptive, or in error.  As a result, please approach User Content from users unknown to you with appropriate skepticism.

Grant of Rights and Representations by You.  If you upload, post or submit User Content on the Site, you represent to us by such action that you have all the necessary legal rights to upload, post or submit such User Content and it will not violate any law or the rights of any third party. You agree that upon uploading, posting or submitting User Content to the Site, you grant The Midwest Clinic, and its respective affiliates, successors and assigns a non-exclusive, transferable, worldwide, fully paid-up, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, distribute, publicly perform, display, sublicense, reproduce, and create derivative works from your User Content in any and all media, whether now and hereafter existing, in any format or manner, in whole or part, without any duty to compensate you.  You also grant us the right to authorize the use of User Content, or any portion thereof, by other users in accordance with the terms and conditions of these Terms of Use, including the rights to feature your User Content specifically on the Site and to allow other users or users to request access to your User Content, such as for example through an RSS Feed.

Removal of User Content.  We may remove any User Content for any reason and without notice to you.  This could include all materials related to your use of the Site or any memberships, including email accounts, postings, profiles or other personalized information you have created while on the Site.

Violations.  If you believe that all or part of a posting of User Content violates these Terms of Use, we encourage you to contact The Midwest Clinic by sending an email using [email protected] that identifies the applicable User Content and the screen identity of the person or entity; provided, however, that we cannot guarantee that any action will be taken as a result of your email.

COMMUNITY RULES
We want everyone to benefit from this community of thoughtful peers and therefore request that you contribute thoughtful and sincere comments. However, there are certain mandatory rules that each person participating in the comment forum must follow.

Each commenter must comply with the following rules of conduct while participating:

• Your Username will appear when you comment. You may not represent that you are any other person, whether real or invented, or imply any connection with any person or organization with which you are not in fact associated.  If your Username is your email address, it will appear truncated in the post (i.e. '[email protected]' will become just 'username').

• You must demonstrate appropriate respect for other commenters.  If you disagree with an opinion, feel free to challenge that opinion with a posting of your own.  You must not personally attack any other commenter.  You will not stalk or harass another commenter.

• You will not upload, post or submit anything that is obscene or contains profanity or that may be hateful or offensive on racial, ethnic, sexual or any other grounds; is harmful, vulgar or distasteful; or is defamatory, libelous, or invades another person's privacy or proprietary rights.

• You will comply with all applicable laws in participating in commenting and will not use the commenting forum for illegal purposes.

• You will not send any bulk unsolicited advertising, promotional information, commercial email or other solicitation (including without limitation junk mail, "spam," chain letters or pyramid schemes of any sort) to any person through comments.

• You will not upload, post, submit or otherwise make available any content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside information, proprietary and confidential information learned or disclosed as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements) or that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any person.

• You will not upload, post or submit or otherwise make available any content that contains links to websites with objectionable content, excessive links to external websites, comments in all capital letters, all bold or all italic.

We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from any comment space, including without limitation if it violates the above rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the "Report Spam/Abuse" link on that particular comment.

If any commenter violates any of the above rules, we reserve the right to ban that individual from further participation in commenting.

TEMPORARY USE LICENSE.
The Midwest Clinic hereby grants you as the user of this Site a non-exclusive limited license to print one copy of the materials owned by The Midwest Clinic for your personal, non-commercial use for the purpose of viewing in print format.  This is a grant of a license and not a transfer of title.  This license automatically terminates twenty-four hours after you exit this Site. 

REVISIONS AND ERRATA.
The material appearing on the Site could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors or could become inaccurate as a result of certain developments occurring after the respective dates of the material contained in this Site. The Midwest Clinic does not warrant that any of the Material on this Site is accurate, complete, or current. The Midwest Clinic may, in its sole discretion and at any time, update, change or discontinue this Site or any specific portion of this Ste (including these Terms of Use) without notice. The Midwest Clinic does not, however, make any commitment to update the Material. 

DISCLAIMER.
THE MATERIAL IN THIS SITE OR ANY MATERIALS MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS SITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, THE MIDWEST CLINIC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMES ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES RIGHTS, AND THE WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE MIDWEST CLINIC AND ITS AFFILIATES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OF THE SITE OR ARISING FROM THE ALLEGED NEGLIGENCE OF THE MIDWEST CLINIC, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES.  FURTHER, THE MIDWEST CLINIC DOES NOT HOLD THAT THE SITE IS OR WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.  IF YOU RESIDE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES, INFORMATION PUBLISHED AT THIS SITE MAY REFER TO PRODUCTS, PROGRAMS OR SITES THAT ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN YOUR COUNTRY.

THE MIDWEST CLINIC DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MATERIALS IN THIS SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.  The materials in this Site could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. This material could be inaccurate or become inaccurate as a result of certain developments occurring after the respective dates of the material contained in this Site.  The Midwest Clinic undertakes no obligation to verify or maintain the currency of such information.

The Midwest Clinic endeavors to maintain this Site and its operation, but is not, and cannot be, responsible for any defect that may exist in the Site or its operations.  AS TO THE OPERATION OF THE SITE, THE MIDWEST CLINIC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.  THE MIDWEST CLINIC MAKES NO WARRANTY THAT (I) THE OPERATION OF THE SITE WILL MEET THE USER'S REQUIREMENTS; (II) ACCESS TO THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR FREE OF DEFECT AND ERRORS; (III) THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE USE OF THIS SITE WILL BE ACCURATE OR RELIABLE; OR (IV) DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED.  You (and not The Midwest Clinic) assume the entire cost of all services, repairs, or corrections that may be necessary for your computer equipment and software as a result of viruses, errors or any other problems whatsoever you may have as a result of visiting this Site.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHALL THE MIDWEST CLINIC BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR INJURY, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES, THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE SITE OR ANY MATERIAL IN THIS SITE, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THE SITE OR INFORMATION AVAILABLE IN THE SITE. THE MIDWEST CLINIC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE EVEN IF THE MIDWEST CLINIC OR A THE MIDWEST CLINIC AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. These include but are not limited to damage or injury caused by error, omission, interruption, defect, failure of performance, delay in operation or transmission, line failure or computer virus, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful component.

LIMITATION.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE MIDWEST CLINIC OR ITS MEMBERS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES, ATTORNEYS, AND AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFIT OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE EVEN IF THE MIDWEST CLINIC OR AN AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MIDWEST CLINIC HAS BEEN NOTIFIED ORALLY OR IN WRITING OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES OR THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES.  THEREFORE, SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS STATED HEREIN MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.  However, IN NO EVENT SHALL THE MIDWEST CLINIC’S TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, LOSSES AND CAUSES OF ACTION (WHETHER IN CONTRACT OR IN TORT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, OR OTHERWISE) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THE SITE.

RELEASE.
YOU HEREBY RELEASE AND FOREVER DISCHARGE AND COVENANT NOT TO SUE THE MIDWEST CLINIC AND ITS MEMBERS, OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES, ATTORNEYS AND AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, FROM ANY AND ALL MANNER OF LIABILITY, CLAIMS, COUNTERCLAIMS, DEMANDS, SETOFFS, DAMAGES, OR CAUSES OF ACTION, WHICH YOU NOW HAVE OR WHICH MAY HEREAFTER ACCRUE, WHETHER HERETOFORE ASSERTED OR UNASSERTED, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF, OR IN ANY WAY RELATING TO USE OF THE SITE BY YOU, SPECIFICALLY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY CLAIMS BASED IN WHOLE OR IN PART UPON THE ALLEGED NEGLIGENCE OF THE MIDWEST CLINIC IN OPERATING THE SITE, PROVIDING INFORMATION TO YOU, PROVIDING MIS-INFORMATION TO YOU, YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE OR OTHERWISE.

INDEMNIFICATION.
You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend The Midwest Clinic, its members, directors, officers, employees, agents and affiliates from and against any action, cause, claim, damage, debt, demand or liability including costs and reasonable attorney fees, asserted by any person, arising out of or related to: (i) these Terms of Use; (ii) your use of this Site, including any data or work downloaded, transmitted or received by you; and (iii) any libelous, slanderous, indecent or other statement concerning any person made or republished by you.

GOVERNING LAW.
These Terms of Use and any disputes arising under or related to these Terms of Use (whether for breach of contract, tortious conduct or otherwise) will be governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without giving effect to any choice of law or conflict of law rules (regardless of the location of the Site or the location of the user of the Site) that would cause the application of the laws of any jurisdiction other than the State of Illinois.  Any legal actions, suits or proceedings, arising out of these Terms of Use (whether for breach of contract, tortious conduct or otherwise) will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Chicago, Illinois, and you hereby accept and submit to the personal jurisdiction of these Illinois courts with respect to any legal actions, suits or proceedings arising out of these Terms of Use. You also waive to the fullest extent permitted by law any right to a trial by jury in any action, suit or proceeding brought to enforce, defend or interpret any right or remedies under, or arising in connection with or relating to, these Terms of Use.

If any conflict exists between any provision of these Terms of Use and any applicable statute, law, regulation of ordinance, the latter will prevail, but in such event, the affected provision of these Terms of Use will be modified or limited only to the extent necessary to bring it within such legal requirements.

No failure on the part of The Midwest Clinic to enforce any part of these Terms of Use shall constitute a waiver of any of The Midwest Clinic’s rights under these Terms of Use whether for past or future actions on the part of any person.  Neither the receipt of any funds by The Midwest Clinic nor the reliance of any person on The Midwest Clinic’s actions shall be deemed to constitute a waiver of any part of these Terms of Use. Only a specific, written waiver signed by an authorized representative of The Midwest Clinic shall have any legal effect whatsoever.

These Terms of Use are in addition to, and do not override or otherwise modify or supersede, the terms and conditions that apply to the products or services offered by this Site and other companies through this Site.

If The Midwest Clinic has not specifically granted you a right under these Terms of Use, that right is reserved to The Midwest Clinic.