Social Media Use

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles encourages you to engage in open discussion on our social media sites. We look forward to reading your comments about your experiences. We do make reasonable efforts to monitor all of our social media channels to ensure that posted comments are appropriate.

  • Remember that information posted on any of our social media platforms should not be considered medical advice and should not replace a consultation with a health care professional.
  • You should not anticipate that your online postings will remain private.
  • Please use caution when posting medical information on any of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles social media sites and never disclose personal identifiable information such as your location, medical record number, financial information, or other private information.
  • For more information about your privacy and health care, feel free to visit our page on Patient Privacy on our website.

We do not comment on patients' medical status

We often receive requests on our social media channels from concerned individuals asking for information about a particular patient’s medical status.

  • As an organization providing health care services, we are prevented by law from publicly providing any information about our patients, even if the information has already been disclosed by a patient’s parents, friends or family members online (health information privacy is covered by the federal government’s Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, commonly referred to in health care as HIPAA).
  • While it may seem that, by not replying to comments left on our social media channels that the hospital is not being proactive in its approach to a patient’s care, the reality is that our clinical teams always partner closely with our patients and their families as part of their approach to care delivery. As part of our close partnership, we give families the luxury of updating their loved ones on their terms and in a manner that is convenient and comfortable for them.
  • On rare occasions where families wish to have the hospital publicize information about their child’s care, we work with these families to complete a formalized written and signed authorization to address their concerns before sharing a patient’s information with the public. In all other situations, we place an absolute priority on rigorously adhering to our discipline of preserving our patients’ privacy. This is a discipline that we carefully follow no matter how eager individuals may be to receive answers on social media.

Social Media Terms & Conditions

  • These terms and conditions govern your use of any social media platform operated by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and are subject to change without notice.
  • You are responsible for the content you post and all activity that occurs under your account. You may not misrepresent yourself or take on the identity of someone else while using Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sites.
  • You agree not to use any of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sites for:
    • Personal attacks
    • Defamation
    • Harassment
    • Spam
    • Offensive content
    • Aggressive behavior
    • Illegal activities

You agree not to post content that is illegal, obscene, defamatory or threatening or abuse intellectual property rights on Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sites.

  • Children’s Hospital Los Angeles reserves the right to review, edit and/or delete any of your postings in its sole discretion.
  • While Children’s Hospital Los Angeles makes reasonable efforts to monitor and moderate posted content, it does not moderate all comments and cannot always respond in a timely manner to online requests for information.
  • Opinions and views expressed by individuals as postings on Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sites are not necessarily those of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, its officers, employees, staff or members of its board of trustees.
  • All links to other websites are part of efforts to serve online participants. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is not responsible for the content of these linked websites and such linkage does not constitute endorsement of those sites by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
  • By posting content on any online channel owned by Children's Hospital Los Angeles, you give Children's Hospital Los Angeles a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual and worldwide license to use your content including the right to copy, distribute, transmit, display, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat and incorporate into a collective work. Other participants on social media channels may use your posted content beyond the control of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Children's Hospital Los Angeles does not have the ability to monitor, intercept or otherwise remove your content from any web presence owned by another entity.

Syndication or Repurposing of Children's Hospital Los Angeles Content

In general, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles supports the distribution of its content through social media sharing mechanisms provided that sharing is done in a way that retains all rights of content origination accruing to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles with regard to content ownership and copyright. 
In cases where individuals or institutions wish to syndicate Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’s digital content, we require that you:

  • Secure written authorization to do so from webmaster@chla.usc.edu prior to posting Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’s content on another site.
  • Attribute the content to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles by listing our institution’s name and linking to the location or origin online.
  • Refrain from substantively changing the content without written authorization to do so.
  • Refrain from suggesting in any way that the use of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ content signals an endorsement by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles or any of its affiliated organizations.

Regardless of whether you are granted prior authorization to syndicate or modify our digital content, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles retains the right to demand immediate removal of our content from another website for any reason.