• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Physicians, Social/Public Media

The 911 Blog Disclaimer

April 8, 2011 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: < 1 minutes

I’m sure you’ve seen them:  The blog disclaimer that remind readers to call 911 in the event of emergency.

But is someone choking on a hot dog really going to dial up KevinMD or SeattleMamaDoc for help?  Does anyone really believe that 33 charts is the place to deal with your acute airway obstruction when you have a just a couple of minutes to live?

Here’s my theory:  I suspect that the first attorney who came up with the 911 blog disclaimer did so as some sort of perverse joke. And rather than seek the input of their own lawyers, all those who followed simply copied the this original language believing it to be judicious and most conservative.  Now it’s the longest running gag in legal history.

I’ve yet to hear of a doctor forced to pay damages over the misunderstanding that their blog was the sole source of therapeutic direction in an individual patient’s maligned care.  Perhaps it’s that viral 911 disclaimer keeping us safe.

Long before the internet I wrote for magazines like American Baby and Parenting.  There were no sidebars reminding the parent-in-crisis of the three number sequence that should be used in place of the magazine’s advice.  That would have been insulting.

Those initiating the 911 blog disclaimer should step forward and claim place in history.  We’ve all had a good laugh.

Related Articles

  • A Blog Without Comments is Still a Blog
  • Social Health, Silos and Blog World Expo
  • Physicians on Twitter - 48% Link to Their Blog

Related Articles

  • A Blog Without Comments is Still a Blog
  • Social Health, Silos and Blog World Expo
  • Physicians on Twitter - 48% Link to Their Blog

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Doctors and social media: Damned if you engage, damned if you don’t

Reactive and Creative Spaces

Health Care and the Visibility-Value Continuum

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

Yes, Doctor

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy