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My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

stallman.org

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Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#211

Post by fffggg »

lr wrote: post #204
fffggg wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't visited many doctors and/or have been very lucky and/or haven't been paying attention. I was referred to a specialist this week for a new injury. The specialist's office asked me to sign several standard looking forms, one of which had almost this exact language (you agree to the terms of our privacy policy). Then just today I was at the pharmacy and after swiping my credit card for payment I was faced wi…

My "Seriously, how hard can it be." comment was about clipping the privacy policy to the clipboard, not to finding a new doctor. Also, from what I can tell, Stallman lives in an urban area. My comments were directed at him.

I'm in an urban area as well. The hospital I took my daughter to was El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, for example.

It's even worse for rural people.

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#212

Post by plink »

hluska wrote: post #87
techdmn wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I the first time I closed on a house, realizing ten minutes in that either I was going to be signing contracts without reading them, or everyone was going to be sitting around watching me read for three hours. There's a lot of pressure in a situation like that, even though I try never to sign anything without reading it.

I subscribe to the 'when you're in a bank, read everything, even if it takes four hours' theory. The last time I set up a really simple business chequing account, the account manager: - spelled my name wrong - spelled the company name wrong - claimed that I was an electrician - listed my job title as 'oner' None of these are terribly material errors, but they demonstrate just how frequently errors occur in financial…

"listed my job title as 'oner'"

An obvious construction error. Just as one who plays piano isn't called a "pianoer", the account manager must have meant "onanist". Did you finally strike him in the face with your gloves?

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#213

Post by quanticle »

Daniel_Newby wrote: post #207
quanticle wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes about as much sense as, "Paying a developer to write your code is no excuse for not also writing it yourself." The lawyer is a profession. His or her job is to read and review contracts, just like my job is to write code. Does your boss rewrite every line of code you write? When you take your car to a mechanic, do you insist on re-doing all of the repairs yourself? So why are you insisting on rereading con…

The lawyer's job is to prevent legal mistakes, not business mistakes. Only you can look after your business interests.

Well, right, but that's no justification for repeating the lawyer's work. That's an argument for making your business requirements clear to the lawyer.

It's the same argument for both law and programming. Badly communicated requirements yield bad results.

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#214

Post by kragen »

NegativeK wrote: post #210
sirclueless wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to see someone argue that in court.

It's come up on This Week in Law. Someone was sending back a modified EULA in the POST data. The lawyers on the show mainly thought it was cute and not something that would be recognized in court.

Sure. My thought is that, if it won't be recognized in court, probably neither will the "I accept" checkbox.

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#216

Post by [deleted] »

jlarocco wrote: post #186
mbreese wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except, I'm not a lawyer... so if there is something, then I probably wouldn't catch it either. At some point, you have to trust professionals to do their job. Buying a house is a bit different though, because you have the purchase agreement and then you have the contracts you sign at closing. We examined the purchase agreement in depth with our lawyer, since that is what sets the context for the rest of the transact…

> Except, I'm not a lawyer... so if there is something, then I probably wouldn't catch it either. At some point, you have to trust professionals to do their job. Right, which is why I suggested asking a lawyer if anything in the contract was unclear. IMO, it seems like having the lawyer read it without reading it yourself is just deferring the decision to the lawyer. How can you convey to the lawyer what you're okay…

[deleted]

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#217

Post by WalterBright »

techdmn wrote: post #43
jrs235 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Additionally, what about the fact that if the woman knew the Privacy Policy was 3000 pages and in a binder (which she claimed to be aware of) and knowingly accepts a statement she strongly believes to be untrue? Is this enough to invalidate the "contract" because it is blatantly known that full disclosure and meeting of the minds has not been met? This also comes to mind during mortgages and car loans. Often the clos…

I the first time I closed on a house, realizing ten minutes in that either I was going to be signing contracts without reading them, or everyone was going to be sitting around watching me read for three hours. There's a lot of pressure in a situation like that, even though I try never to sign anything without reading it.

Since it's big money that I would be on the hook for, you bet I make them wait while I read the contract front to back. Yes, it annoys the escrow officer, but too bad.

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#219

Post by [deleted] »

johnnyg wrote: post #189
jakejake wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If course we're supposed to read it but in some situations it's not realistic. Buying a house involves hundreds of pages. Unless you're a lawyer, the average person isn't going to recognize loopholes in the contracts. And I don't know many people who would back out on a house sale at that stage, so it's highly unlikely you'd refuse to sign. The only practical way to do that is to get an advance copy of everything. In…

I read each and every page before I purchased my home. I highlighted everything I didn't understand. Most pages looked like bumble bees. I worked questions during a 5 hour session with my realtor. For terms I now understood but didn't agree with, I had two options depending on the type of term it was: 1. Government and HOA stuff was not changing. I could accept it or walk. 2. Seller stuff could change. We made some m…

[deleted]

Re: My Doctor's Office Asked Me To Lie

#220

Post by Drbble »

johnnyg wrote: post #189
jakejake wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If course we're supposed to read it but in some situations it's not realistic. Buying a house involves hundreds of pages. Unless you're a lawyer, the average person isn't going to recognize loopholes in the contracts. And I don't know many people who would back out on a house sale at that stage, so it's highly unlikely you'd refuse to sign. The only practical way to do that is to get an advance copy of everything. In…

I read each and every page before I purchased my home. I highlighted everything I didn't understand. Most pages looked like bumble bees. I worked questions during a 5 hour session with my realtor. For terms I now understood but didn't agree with, I had two options depending on the type of term it was: 1. Government and HOA stuff was not changing. I could accept it or walk. 2. Seller stuff could change. We made some m…

From your description it seems that nothing important came of reading the contract, it was boilerplate except for some minor points.
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