Disclaimer and Privacy Statement for adrenal.com
Statement Regarding Ongoing Research at the Carling Adrenal Center
Adrenal.com is an Educationl Website Published and Maintained by the Carling Adrenal Center
The Carling Adrenal Center has put this Web site together to educate patients (and doctors) about the basics and the most recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal disease and adrenal tumors. However, medicine and surgery are constantly changing sciences. This is one reason that we update this web site regularly. As new research and clinical experience broadens our knowledge, changes in treatment and drug therapy occur. In their efforts to provide the world's largest collection of adrenal articles and to make sure that this information is complete, state-of-the-art, and generally in accord with the standards accepted at the time of publication, the authors of adrenal.com have checked with numerous sources believed to be reliable. However, in view of the possibility of human error or changes in medical sciences, neither the authors, Dr. Carling, Dr Norman, the editorial board, nor any other physician or party who has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work warrants that the information contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete, and they are not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. Readers of adrenal.com are encouraged to confirm the information contained herein with other sources and to seek the advice of a specialist in endocrinology or endocrine surgery if questions remain.The information contained within these pages is not meant to replace the examination or advice of your physician. This is educational material which does not cover every detail of each disorder discussed. Only your physician can make medical decisions and treatment plans which are appropriate for each individual.Issues like when to have surgery, your risks of surgery, your long-term adrenal hormone needs, the type of anesthesia required, and many other factors should be addressed on an individual basis.
Adrenal.com is an educational web site. It does not intend to give advice, but is meant to inform and educate.
No Personal Data is Collected.
We do Not Store Your Personal Information.
We Do Not Have Third-Party Advertisers.
The website does not collect any personal data from you. The website does not provide advertising to any third party companies. The website does not have a log-on or store personal information. The website does use cookies to identify your visits to the site allowing additional features to be made available to you after your second visit. For example, we provide an opportunity for users to ask a surgeon a question if they have visited the site two times within 1 week. This feature is made possible by cookies. Again, we do not know any personal information about you.
Throughout this web site, the risks of adrenal disease are presented, just as the risks of adrenal surgery are presented. Each patient is an individual and many factors will influence the risk of surgery including patient factors as well as surgeon factors like the experience of the surgeon in performing adrenal surgery. Even the most experienced adrenal surgeons in the world cannot guarantee good outcomes, and this web site in no way intends to suggest that all operations performed by the most experienced adrenal surgeons will be free of risk of complications. There is a potential for complications with all surgery, including ALL types of surgery performed for adrenal disease and all surgeons (including Dr. Carling and his associates) who operate on adrenal glands. It is a fact, however, that the most experienced adrenal surgeons have complication rates that are less than surgeons who perform this operation infrequently. Our doctors do not guarantee to cure every patient, nor do they guarantee that no complication will occur.
Choosing an adrenal surgeon is an important decision.
The surgeons at the Carling Adrenal Center are believed to be the most experienced adrenal surgeons in the world. Yet, the surgeons at the Carling Adrenal Center cannot operate on every patient with adrenal disease so we strongly encourage all patients to find an expert adrenal surgeon. It is well known that adrenal surgery performed by doctors who do few adrenal operations often turns out poorly. For many patients, surgical expertise is not available in your local area, so traveling to a larger city or center of excellence is very common. This web site, like every other web site and every paper and/or book written about adrenal surgery will state that an experienced surgeon is extremely important for a good outcome. We strongly encourage all patients to seek out the most experienced adrenal surgery available to them. There are no other adrenal surgeons who perform adrenal surgery in the same manner as the doctors at the Carling Adrenal Center. Many surgeons say they trained with Dr Carling but many of them are not being truthful. Like all operations, adrenal surgery can be performed several ways. All patients are encouraged to discuss the type of adrenal surgery their doctor will be doing, the anticipated cure rate, anticipated risks and complications, the type of anesthesia used, and how the doctor will know that the patient is cured or not at the conclusion of the operation. Patients should be comfortable with their choice of adrenal surgeon based on many factors, but clearly NOT based upon information gained from one web site. Choosing a surgeon is a very important decision. Do not hesitate to ask your surgeon very pointed questions... and this includes our doctors. Ask very hard questions. Be comfortable with your surgeon no mater who it is or what position they hold and title they have after their name.
No doctor can guarantee a perfect outcome.
This sounds obvious, but it must be said. We do one thing, and we do it very well. However, we do not cure every patient that we operate on. We keep track of all patients we operate on, and we always know our cure rate... almost always about 99% or slightly higher. We believe this is the highest cure rate for adrenal disease anywhere. However, we will never guarantee that we can fix every patient's problem. We take care of more adrenal patients than anybody in the world, and have done so for many years, but we are not perfect. We keep detailed statistics on all operations, operative findings, and patient outcomes. We publish our data in peer-reviewed medical journals on a regular basis. However we cannot guarantee that we will cure every patient.
Sometimes we will tell a patient that we do not think an operation is in their best interest. If we tell you this, it is because we have the ability to compare your case against many thousands of others who have come before you, and who's pre-op labs, operative findings, and eventual outcomes are known. If we tell you that we don't want to operate on you, its because we think an operation is not in your best interest. This is uncommon if you have an adrenal tumor, but of course, if we determine that you do not have a tumor, or that we think you are best served by leaving the situation alone and monitorin it, we will tell you so. To become our patient, you must have a physician who can see you in follow up. The follow up is simple (check labs) and thus almost any doctor can do this, but you can't have an operation here and then go away and never have follow up somewhere else. You must have a doctor who will agree to see you after the operation to check your labs--although we will provide the order slip for the labs, and the labs will come to our office as well. All patients are given our surgeon's home and cell phone numbers. One of us will always be available to you and your doctor.
Not withstanding the association of many of the adrenal.com contributing physicians to their employers or universities, including Dr. Carling's affiliation with any institution, hospital or employer, these employers/ universities/ institutions are not affiliated with adrenal.com in any respect.
Privacy Policy for Adrenal.com and The Carling Adrenal Center
There are opportunities to become a patient of the Carling Adrenal Center, however, this occurs on a specific form designed for this purpose at https://intake.adrenal.com. You will know that you are entering your data on a secure web page and notifications will be given. This is a clear decision that you will make. Communications with this form are encrypted and secure and are clearly marked as such. The information entered in this form is not accessible to anybody except the medical staff of the Carling Adrenal Center and the Norman Parathyoid Center and Clayman Thyroid Center. These three specialty endocrine centers are closely affiliated and work together in many aspects of our business within our respected offices and within our hospitals and operating rooms.
Any email that a patient may send to Dr Carling or any other member of the Carling Adrenal Center is not encrypted and the patients do so at their own risk. We do not ask for specific personal information via email and this is done either via phone, mail, fax, or via our secure encrypted web form. Emails are not encrypted and are not secure and are used at your own risk.
1. Communication by Email with the Practice.
• HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to establish privacy and security protections for health information.• Information stored on our computers are encrypted.
• Most popular email services (ex. Hotmail®, Gmail®, Yahoo®) do not utilize encrypted email.
• When we send you an email or you send us an email, the information that is sent is not encrypted. This means a third party may be able to access the information and read it since it is transmitted over the Internet. In addition, once the email is received by you, someone may be able to access your email account and read it.
• Email is a very popular and convenient way to communicate for a lot of people so in their latest modification to the HIPAA act; the federal government provided guidance on email and HIPAA.
• The guidelines state that if a patient has been made aware of the risks of unencrypted email, and if that same patient provides consent to receive health information via email; then a health entity may send that patient personal medical information via unencrypted email.
• Since e-mail can be used to spread viruses please don’t send attachments in the emails. For example, some virus can cause e-mail messages to be sent to people who you do not intend to send e-mail to; therefore you should install and maintain virus protection software on your PC.
By consenting to the use of e-mail with the Carling Adrenal Center and the Practice, you agree that:
• Carling Adrenal Center may forward e-mails as appropriate for diagnosis, treatment,
reimbursement, and other related reasons. As such, Carling Adrenal Center employees, medical
staff, and other than the recipient, may have access to e-mails that you send. Such access will only be to people
who have a right to access your e-mail to provide services to you. Otherwise, Carling Adrenal Center will not forward e-mails to independent third parties without your prior written consent, unless as authorized or required by law.
• Although Carling Adrenal Center will try to read and respond promptly to your e-mails; the staff may not read your e-mail immediately. Therefore, you should not use e-mail to communicate with the Carling Adrenal Center or any of its staff, nurses or doctors if there is an emergency or where you require an
answer in a short period of time.
• If your e-mail requires or asks for a response and you have not received a response within a reasonable time
period, it is your responsibility to follow up directly with Carling Adrenal Center.
• You should carefully consider the use of e-mail for the communication of sensitive medical information such
as but not limited to; information regarding sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS/HIV, mental health,
developmental disability, or substance abuse.
Research at The Carling Adrenal Center.
The physicians at the Carling Adrenal Center are constantly engaged with ongoing research into many aspects of adrenal disease. By becoming a patient you acknowledge that your medical records will likely be included with hundreds or thousands of other patients with adrenal disease and adrenal tumors and that specific aspects of your case will likely be examined. The purpose of this research is to allow for a better understanding of adrenal disease, adrenal tumors, and adrenal cancers including how they are diagnosed, and how best they can be treated. Your information will be studied only in the collective, along with many other patients. Specific studies of you as an individual will not be undertaken. No outside information will be requested as a part of these studies.
Your information will remain private and confidential at all times. You information will not be identifiable, and at no time will your information be examined as an individual, or in any way that would allow you to be identified. Your privacy is paramount and under no circumstances will be jeopardized.
You have the right to have your medical information omitted from any research project, and this is done simply by email directly to Dr. Carling, or to his nurse Caridad.
Copyrights Will Be Inforced
All parts of this Web site are Copyright 1996-2024, including all photos, illustrations, graphics, navigation, and text. Patients and doctors can print these materials for educational purposes and are encouraged to do so. However, NONE of the photos, illustrations, graphs, or text can be reprinted in book, pamphlet or booklet form, nor can the photos and text be published on any other Web site, Internet, Intranet, or otherwise reproduced without written consent from the Carling Adrenal Center.
Website Analytics for Adrenal.com
Currently we are using Google Analytics to analyze the audience of the website and improve our content. No personal information is collected from Google Analytics. For further information on the privacy policy concerning Google Analytics, please see: Google's policyThis page was last updated 08/28/2020.