Any clinician using email to communicate with a patient should obtain permission from the patient and explain possible hazards prior to exchanging email messages. Any software or documentation distributed by, or downloaded from the Department of Information Technology of Harvard Medical School is subject to copyright laws and may not be distributed. This includes but is not limited to all email directories, email mailing lists, bulletin boards, and software applications that are obtained from HMS or its computer servers via the web, email or in disk format. Users willfully violating this policy will be reported to the proper organizations for the appropriate disciplinary action. Users should not open attachments in email from senders unknown to the user.
Attachments can contain dangerous computer viruses, which are frequently spread via email.
Anyone suspecting that they have a computer virus should call 43-2000 for help. Access to Electronic Mail through Web client software is subject to the same policies and guidelines as email obtained via a desktop client.