To All Forum Participants

[Philip1815]

Dear Forum Participants,

We are sorry we have had to dramatically limit the number of questions we allow on a daily basis in this forum due to  limitations of sponsorship funding. If your organization can sponsor this Forum, we and all others that visit here would be more than grateful. Please contact us.  

Unfortunately we must ask...

-Please do not post a question under someone else's question, it will not be answered.

-If you <B> really really </B> need <I>urgent</I> medical help the Web is not the place to be, please call your personal physician or your Emergency Medical Services as soon as possible.

-If you need a second opinion, we cannot recommend a better institution than The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center.

Again, sorry for the cutbacks :(


Regards,
Med Help International

[Martha]

My husband and I are trying to help care for an elderly friend, who lives in a retirement home and has effectively no family. She suffered from angina for some time, and then had a heart attack which put her in the hospital.  The doctor recommended a bypass, which she agreed to reluctantly (she is 92).  I feel that she has recovered from the bypass very well, but she now seems to be confused about a lot of things, which she was not before.  As I am not a family member, and her attorney has her power of attorney for health care, I am unable to discover what sorts of drugs she is taking, but the social worker assures me that she is taking no psychotropic drugs.  Could she have had a small stroke? Is this confusion an expected outcome in one so old?  I am sorry that the site can accept only one question a day, as I need some answers.  Perhaps some of the rest of you can give me some guidance.  This is such a good site.  I have a cleft granddaughter, and the cleft lip/palate site is just full of anecdotal information - all of which threw me into a complete tizzy, and I stopped going to it.  I really feel confident in the work of the Cleveland Clinic.  thanks for letting me run on.  I would be glad to pay a registration fee or something like that for the help.

[Susan]

I really hope you keep the forum.  It is a great source for imformation.  I understand that It might be kind of hard to keep going without funding, but I don't think a membership fee would be the right way to go.  There are a lot of people who just can't do it no matter how low the fee.  It is a real shame that more physicions wouldn't be willing to volunteer just a little bit of thier time.  The answers that are given here help so many people.  I hope that maybe more physicions will donate some of thier time to such a good thing!!!

[jan to phil]

Dear Phil,
In the March 15, 2000 issue of HOSPITAL PRACTICE it says "...multibillion dollar medical Internet companies are fighting for your eyeballs."  ..."Hoping to educate you about their products, pharmaceutical giants are willing to pay handsomely for Web site banner ads."  So, why haven't you gone that route?

[Ahh But]

Ahh but, do you get free medical advice from the #1 Heart Center doctors at WebMD?


Jeanie

[NICOLE]

i read ealier that people were asking for similar websites..  webmd.com has a great 'member to member' section, with great message boards where you can post your question... (until this one gets cleared up of course :)

[Diane]

Perhaps funding from the American Heart Association or a goverment grant.  Have you investigated these avenues?

[TO ALL]

Right now, and for the next few months we (unfortunately) anticipate keeping the number of questions per day limited to 1.
:(

As for me personally, I want to keep the site totally free, both for reading/browsing and for posting questions. All our forums are set up that way. I think that it would be a shame if we limit this and the other forums to only those with the means to pay a membership fee.

Lastly keep in mind, if we did institue a pay-for-question type of service, that brings in all types of legal concerns. Doctor-Patient contracts, medical practice across state lines, etc. etc. So you can see why this is not an easy thing to accomplish.

Regards,
Phil

[question for phil]

Phil,
Can we have an update on what is going on with this site. Are we staying with one question per day or is there a possibility of getting some sponsership in the near future.

[PATTY]

I agree with many of you on the user fee. I think If you ask questions you pay a fee. To log on and read the questions and answers should be free.

[amber]

I think comments that are both positive and negative should be heard. The people at Cleveland will be able to judge for themselves what we expect from them, fee or no fee. However, I do not think that arguments are appropriate. Just voice your opinions and leave it at that. We do enjoy the right to freedom of speech. Constructive criticism and not "slamming" is a little more tactful though.

[DENISE]

Brian,

You obviously don't know much about the cost of running a web site.  This has nothing to do with greed - it's just a fact.  I just want you to know that I was fortunate enough to be treated at the Clinic and had the privilege of having a world famous surgeon operate on me (Dr. Cosgrove).  I will be forever grateful.  I only wish that Dr. Cosgrove had been able to collect his full fee, as he was deserving.  According to my insurance papers, Dr. Cosgrove only received 1/4 of what the charge was because of the contract.  He has to accept what my insurance pays.  And believe me, for the kind of work he did on me and the skill it involves, he deserved the full amount.  So, don't stand in judgement of the Cleveland Clinic - a world class teaching hospital who has rightly earned it's reputation.  I will gladly contribute support to this web site.

[Carol]

The subject here is about FEES. So why are some of you (and you know who you are) posting your questions under THIS subject?? This is part of the problem. Please Post your own question under your own subject as to stay on one topic. I am sure Phil and the others at the forum would agree. As Phil previously said they wont get answered that way!

[Louise]

Brian, The only thing thats sad is you, you can't even express yourself without swearing.

[Louise]

Brian,If thats all you have to say you should have kept your thoughts to yourself.I only discovered this site a couple of months ago and the information here has been so much help to me, you obviously don't care what happens to this site as you only seem to care about how it will affect you financially if a fee is charged for its use. Most of us would be happy to contribute if we can carry on having the piece of mind this site brings us.

[NO NAME]

I hate to see people using others comments to slam others, Please this site is for adults act like one.  If you want to argue go to another site.

[Carol to Phil]

Phil,
That makes perfect sense. I would hate to see this forum end. I wish you the best of luck to keep this up and running. Thanks for the reply. I guess I will have to be the lucky one to post the question of the day :-)
Carol

[To Phil from Carol]

Phil,
That makes perfect sense. I wish you the best of luck with this as I would hate to see it end.Guess I need to be lucky to be the question asker for the day! :-)
Thanks for the reply. Carol

[To Carol from Phil]

Hi Carol,

CCF is taking one question per day currently, down from 15 per day (prior to January 1). The question of fees is indeed the real issue and it's not as simple as it appears. Some of the concerns are that if we charge a <i>membership fee</i>, whether that construes a doctor/patient contract?

Anyway, we're still vigorously working the issue.

Regards,
Phil

[Carol]

PS! Have you stopped taking all questions aready? If not how many questions a day are you all currently able to answer?
Thank you :-)

[brian]

The cost of the site is minimal I am sure. It is sad that your facility finds an excelant means to disperse information, and advertise there services and have not budgeted it under that account. you charge us millions of dollars every year...and you still persist in asking for more from us. Dam few Dr.s aceually earn the money they are paid. Nothing pisses me off more then to see greed run amok. The other sad thing is you believe your oun rhetoric and do not even see how pathetic this sounds.

[abc]

I think it's very unfortunate to see this forum go. I have asked questions and the doctors have kindly answered here. I cannot afford very much, but I'll put up whatever I can to maintain this forum.


Thanks.

[Med Help-Phil]

Hi again everyone,

Just to re-iterate.. .we are NOT closing this forum, just limiting the number of questions per day. We *ARE* seeking support from major corporations for funding. As of this writing I do not think that we would be able to sustain the forum without corporate sponsors.

To date, the costs this forum have been underwritten from The Cleveland Clinic and we are *extremely* grateful for their generosity. Due to unforseen cutbacks at CCF this forum has taken a very large cut in funding.

Cindy and I (Co-Founders of Med Help) are very optimistic that this situation is going to be temporary :)

Regards to all,
Phil

[Maria]

This is really amazing--the breakdown of this site.  I am eternally grateful to all who have posted, and the doctors who have responded.  This was an incredible coming together--an absolute wealth of information.  So sorry to see it go.  I can't believe there are no takers for ads.  If I were a pharmaceutical company, this would be the site for me.  Or any number of other services and products.  But there is no way this will survive with just one or two questions a day.

[Sonya]

That sounds like a great idea. On AOL's "Ask A Doc", they ofen
refer you to medical information within their site such as Heart
Disease, Congestive Heart Failure and so on. The problem with that is, it is all very basic and limited information. Most patients that use this site are very educated and informed of their conditons. We look to this site for more indepth and detailed answers, not just general information that we have already been told. Also the Cleveland Doctors are very good at
refering us to the experts, not only at Cleveland but other places as well. These are the things we all appreciate that many
other sites do not offer. If you have to get advertising sponsorship, we will put up with flashing logos and click on them
to keep you in business. This site is too valuable to lose.
Keep the rhythm!