Disclaimer and Privacy Policy

Legal Disclaimer

Unless otherwise indicated, this website and its contents are the property of the Reproductive Sciences Medical Center. This web site is funded by us, protected, without limitation, pursuant to U.S. and foreign copyright and trademark laws.

Medical Disclaimer

The information posted here by Reproductive Sciences Medical Center should not be considered as medical advice and is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified medical professional.

Privacy Policy

Reproductive Sciences Medical Center respects your privacy and is committed to safeguarding your personal information while you interact with our website www.fertile.com and utilize our services. This policy outlines how we collect, store, use, and disclose your personal information and other data. By using our website and services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. Please note that we may update this policy periodically, so we encourage you to review it regularly.
You may choose to share information with us through interactive forms on our Website. For example, you may submit a request for an appointment to us online through our Website. The use of these forms is voluntary and the information you submit is forwarded to our representative in Reproductive Sciences Medical Center who are best suited to review and act upon the information provided.
If you are uncomfortable contacting us via online form, you may always contact us by dialing telephone numbers listed on the Web Site, one of our representatives will take your call and act accordingly to help you.

General Information Collection

Types of Information Collected

• Personal Information: This includes information that can be used to identify or contact you, or individuals about whom you provide information. Examples include your first and last name, phone number, street address, comments, company name and address, title, photograph, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, username, and/or email address.
• Aggregated Information: This is data collected about groups of users that has been combined and does not directly identify any individual.
• Cookies: We use session cookies (expire upon closing your browser), persistent cookies (remain until deleted), and third-party cookies (placed by external websites) to enhance your experience.
• Device Information: We passively collect information about your device, such as your IP address, browser type, unique device identifier (UDID), and operating system.

How We Collect Information

We collect information when you engage in the following activities:

• Requesting or scheduling a product demonstration.
• Registering for our newsletters.
• Engaging with our services, products, or offerings, including account registration through your healthcare provider and completing questionnaires.
• Registering as an intended parent or egg donor or surrogate. 
• Communicating with us via email, telephone, video conference, text message, and/or other methods.
• Interacting with our social media accounts.
• Inquiring about or applying for employment.
• Working for Reproductive Sciences Medical Center.

Other Information Sources

We may obtain information from other sources and combine it with the information we collect directly, such as:

• Your healthcare provider.
• Identity verification services.
• Fraud detection service providers.
• Credit bureaus.
• Mailing list providers.
• Publicly available sources.
• Information from your interactions with our social media networks.

Use of Information

Personal Information

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To review and process your questionnaire responses.
• To send you emails.
• To fulfill our contractual obligations to you.
• To send you promotional/marketing information (subject to your preferences).
• To personalize and tailor our website features, performance, and support.
• To analyze, benchmark, and conduct research.
• To provide, analyze, and improve interest-based advertising
• To communicate with you via various methods, including email, video conferencing, telephone, text message, and app notifications.
• To provide your personal information to others for limited purposes as necessary to provide our services.
• To send you transactional, administrative, or relationship notices.

Aggregated Information

Aggregated information may be used for:

• Internal operations.
• Improving our website and customizing features.
• Statistical analysis.

Sharing and Disclosure of Personal Information

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties. We may disclose your personal information to:

• Partnering organizations and service providers who assist us in delivering our services. We ensure these companies maintain the confidentiality of your information and use it only to perform their obligations to us.
• When required by law or when we believe disclosure is necessary to:
  • Comply with applicable laws, regulations, legal processes, or governmental requests.
  • Enforce this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service, including investigating potential violations.
  • Detect, prevent, or address fraud, security, or technical issues.
  • Respond to user support requests.
  • Protect our rights, property, safety, our users, and the public.

Retention of Information

We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, to resolve disputes, or to protect our legal rights.

Keep in mind that when you use our Services, you may engage with third party sites or offerings that we don’t own or control. This may include third-party software used to deliver our user portal, intake forms, community forum, or other aspects of the Services. This Privacy Policy applies only to information we collect through our Services, and does not apply to information collected directly by any third party. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties, so we encourage you to read their privacy statements. Personal Information will not be shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and any third parties will be required to handle information in accordance with applicable law.

Your Rights, Choices, Opt-Outs & Controls

• Emails: You can unsubscribe from our email lists at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our emails.
• Site controls: Manage your preferences in Cookie Settings.
• Google: Adjust ad personalization in Google Ad Settings.
• Industry tools: Opt out of interest-based advertising via DAA/YourAdChoices (US), NAI, DAAC (Canada), and EDAA/YourOnlineChoices (EU/UK).
• Mobile: Reset or limit your device’s Ad ID in iOS/Android settings.
• US state privacy choices: You can opt out of “selling”/“sharing” and targeted advertising using the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information.” We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals where required.

Cookie Usage

We use the following categories of cookies/technologies: Strictly Necessary, Performance/Analytics, Functional, and Advertising. 

Advertising technologies help us show interest-based ads and understand ad performance across sites and apps. You can manage your preferences at any time via our Cookie Settings. We typically retain advertising identifiers between 90 and 540 days, depending on the advertising partner’s settings, for the purposes described above and in accordance with our retention schedule.

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings.

Cookie Usage for Advertising

We partner with advertising and measurement providers to deliver, personalize, and measure our advertising across the internet. Third-party vendors (including but not limited to Google, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, Reddit, and X/Twitter, etc.) may show our ads across websites and apps. These partners use cookies, pixel tags, SDKs, and similar technologies to collect or receive information (such as cookie or mobile ad identifiers, device and browser information, IP address, and interactions with our Services) and use that information to serve ads based on your prior interactions, to limit ad frequency, and to measure campaign performance. We disclose such data to advertising networks, measurement providers, anti-fraud vendors, and IT service providers supporting these purposes.

Please note that we do not use or permit the use of Protected Health Information (PHI) or sensitive health information for targeted advertising, and we take steps to prevent sending sensitive page URLs or form data to advertising partners.

Review Process of Website Content

Content is reviewed regularly for accuracy and reliability by our website Editorial Board.

HIPAA, GDPR and CCPA

Your Rights Under GDPR (for individuals in the EEA)

If you are located in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including:

• The right to access your personal data and receive information about its processing.
• The right to rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• The right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) of your personal data under certain circumstances.
• The right to restrict processing of your personal data under certain circumstances.
• The right to data portability to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit it to another controller [As this specific right isn’t explicitly mentioned in the provided excerpts for exercising rights, it’s good practice to include it if applicable, but flag it as potentially external information for verification].
• The right to object to the processing of your personal data under certain circumstances, including for direct marketing purposes.
• The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you [As this specific right isn’t explicitly mentioned in the provided excerpts for exercising rights, it’s good practice to include it if applicable, but flag it as potentially external information for verification].

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the “Contact Us” section below. We will respond to your request in accordance with GDPR requirements. Please note that we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in your country of residence if you believe your rights have been violated [As this specific right isn’t explicitly mentioned, flag it as potentially external information for verification].

Cross-border Data Transfers (GDPR): If we transfer your personal data outside the EEA, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with GDPR requirements. This may include using Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission [This is not explicitly in the sources but is a common GDPR practice and should be mentioned for robustness, clearly stating it’s general information].

Your Rights Under CCPA (for California Residents)

If you are a California resident, you have certain rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including:

• The right to know what personal information we collect about you, including the categories and specific pieces of personal information, the sources of the information, the purposes for collecting it, and the categories of third parties with whom we share it.
• The right to request deletion of your personal information that we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
• The right to opt-out of the “sale” or “sharing” of your personal information. RSMC does not sell your personal information. Under CCPA, “sale” is broadly defined and may include sharing personal information for monetary or other valuable consideration. To the extent our data sharing practices are considered a “sale” under CCPA, you have the right to opt-out. Please contact us to exercise this right [The definition of “sale” and the clarification about RSMC’s practices address a previous gap].
• The right to correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
• The right to limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information for purposes other than providing the services or goods [As this specific right isn’t explicitly mentioned in the provided excerpts for exercising rights, it’s good practice to include it if applicable under CPRA, but flag it as potentially external information for verification].
• The right not to receive discriminatory treatment for exercising your CCPA rights [As this specific right isn’t explicitly mentioned, flag it as potentially external information for verification].

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the “Contact Us” section below. Please note that we may need to verify your identity before processing your request. You may also designate an authorized agent to make requests on your behalf, subject to verification.

Information on Third-Party Disclosures (CCPA): We may disclose the following categories of your personal information to the following categories of third parties for business purposes:

• [Provide specific categories of personal information disclosed, e.g., contact information, demographic information, etc.] shared with [provide categories of third parties, e.g., healthcare providers, payment processors, IT service providers, etc.] for the purpose of [provide the purpose of disclosure, e.g., providing services, processing payments, website maintenance, etc.].

Your Rights Under HIPAA (if applicable)

As a provider of services that may involve Protected Health Information (PHI), RSMC complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). You have the following rights regarding your PHI:

• Right to Inspect and Copy: You have the right to inspect and obtain a copy of your health information that we maintain. Your request must be in writing, and we may charge a reasonable fee for copying and mailing. In limited circumstances, we may deny your request, and if so, we will provide a written explanation and information on how to request a review.
• Right to Amend: If you believe your health information is inaccurate or incomplete, you have the right to request an amendment in writing, along with a reason for the request. We may deny your request in certain circumstances and will provide a written explanation. You may submit a statement of disagreement if your request is denied, which will be shared with future disclosures of the relevant information.
• Right to an Accounting of Disclosures: You have the right to request a detailed list of certain disclosures of your health information made in the past six years, excluding disclosures for treatment, payment, healthcare operations, and certain other exceptions. Your request must be in writing, and we may charge a fee if you request an accounting more than once every twelve months.
• Right to Request Restrictions: You have the right to request restrictions on how we use or disclose your health information for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. Your request must be in writing. We are not required to agree to your request, except that we must agree not to disclose your health information to your health plan if the disclosure is for payment or healthcare operations and the item or service was paid for out-of-pocket in full. We will notify you if we cannot agree to a requested restriction.
• Right to Request Alternative Means of Communication: You have the right to request that we communicate with you about medical matters in a specific way or at a certain location. Your request must be in writing, and we will accommodate all reasonable requests.
• Right to a Paper Copy of the Notice of Privacy Practices: You have the right to receive a paper copy of this Notice at any time. Contact us using the information below to obtain a copy.
• Right to Revoke Authorization: You have the right to revoke your written authorization to use or disclose your health information, except to the extent that we have already taken action in reliance on your authorization. Your revocation must be in writing.
• Right to Notification of a Breach: You have the right to be notified if a breach of your unsecured health information occurs.
• Right to Opt Out of Fundraising Communications: If we engage in fundraising, you have the right to opt out of receiving these communications.

To exercise your HIPAA rights, please contact us using the details provided in the “Contact Us” section below. You also have the right to file a complaint with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services if you believe your privacy rights have been violated. You will not be retaliated against for filing a complaint.

Uses and Disclosures Without Your Authorization (HIPAA): HIPAA permits us to use and disclose your health information without your written authorization for certain purposes, including but not limited to:

• Treatment: Providing and coordinating your healthcare.
• Payment: Billing and collecting payment for healthcare services.
• Healthcare Operations: Activities necessary to run our healthcare operations, such as quality improvement and administrative functions.
• As Required by Law: When federal, state, or local law requires disclosure.
• Public Health Activities: To prevent or control disease, injury, or disability.
• Health Oversight Activities: For audits, investigations, and inspections.
• Research: Under certain circumstances approved by an Institutional Review Board or Privacy Board.
• To Avert a Serious Threat to Health or Safety: To protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others.
• Business Associates: Sharing information with contractors who perform services for us and agree to protect your PHI.
• Individuals Involved in Your Care or Payment for Your Care: Disclosures to family members or others involved in your care, as permitted by HIPAA.

Uses and Disclosures Requiring Your Written Authorization (HIPAA): We must obtain your written authorization for most uses and disclosures of:

• Psychotherapy Notes.
• Marketing purposes.
• Disclosures that constitute a sale of your health information.
• Other uses and disclosures not described in this Notice.

You may revoke your authorization at any time in writing, except to the extent we have already acted in reliance on your authorization.

Security

We implement commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and administrative safeguards to protect your personal information collected and stored in our systems. However, no method of data transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your information. We are not liable for any breach of security resulting from causes or events beyond our control.

Do Not Track Feature

Our website does not currently respond to “do not track” signals from web browsers due to the lack of an industry standard for such responses.

Where required by law, we honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals as a valid request to opt out of targeted advertising.

Information Regarding Children

Our website is not intended for children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them in line with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will take steps to remove it from our systems. If you believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us immediately.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Reproductive Sciences Medical Center reserves the right to modify or update this Privacy Policy at any time without prior notice. Any changes will be effective immediately upon posting on our website. We encourage you to review this policy periodically for updates.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy or our treatment of your personal information, please contact us at:

Address: Reproductive Sciences Medical Center 3661 Valley Centre Dr., Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92130 

Communications: Tel: 858-436-7186

Email: info@fertile.com

Updated Effective: [07/03/2025]