Healthcare Privacy & Cookie Policy

Medela's Healthcare Privacy & Cookie Policy governs the collection, processing and use of your personal data, when you visit and/or interact with our website.

This Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy ("Policy") applies to the Website www.medelahealthcare.us and/or other Medela Websites (each including any subpages) ("Website") which are operated in the United States of America by Medela LLC, 1101 Corporate Drive, 60050 McHenry, IL, USA  and Medela AG, Lättichstrasse 4b, 6340 Baar, Switzerland ("Medela" or "we"). Other websites connected directly or indirectly with our Website, e.g., by hyperlinks, do not fall within the scope of this Policy, whether or not they are operated by Medela, an affiliated group company or partner.

This Policy governs the collection, processing and use of your personal data, when you visit and/or interact with our Website, and explains our practices with respect to the placement of cookies, including the types of cookies we use and how you can manage them.

This Policy was last revised on July 1, 2020..

1. Collection, Processing and Use of Your Personal Data

1.1 Anonymous Usage of our Website

You are welcome to visit our Website while remaining anonymous and without revealing any of your personal data. However, when you first visit our Website we will ask for your consent to place cookies on your device and to track your Website usage behaviour. This helps us to better understand how our customers use our Website and to improve our Website offering and services, which includes providing you with a more personalized Website experience and targeted offers. Please see Sections 2.2, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 below for a detailed description of the cookies and Website analysis tools we use for this purpose and your rights to change your choices.

If you do not agree with the above practices and wish to remain fully anonymous, you can indicate not to provide your consent, or withdraw your consent with effect for the future, by using the opt-out mechanisms available (see Sections 2.2, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 below). In this case, we will only collect certain anonymous information which does not directly relate to your person. For example, we may collect the number of visitors to our Website, browsing patterns and areas of interest. We analyse this information to understand how our customers use our Website, and to assess trends, statistics and our customers’ needs, which help us to improve our Website and to better serve our customers.

Other than as indicated above, we will only collect your personal data if you voluntarily decide to share such information with us, such as by sending an enquiry (via our contact form) or requesting a specific service. Unless you have provided your explicit consent, and unless indicated otherwise in this Website Privacy Policy, we will use the personal data that you have shared with us only as necessary for enabling your use of our Website, including handling your requests and providing the requested services. Apart from that, we may use any personal data we receive only in anonymized form (i.e., in a non-personally identifiable form which does not allow for any conclusions as to your identity) for statistical purposes and for internal evaluation how to improve our products and services. Your data will not be processed for other purposes or beyond the scope of this Website Privacy Policy, except where expressly permitted or required by applicable law.

1.2 Using our Contact Form

We collect the personal data you voluntarily disclose when you contact us through the contact form on our Website, for example, if you send us an enquiry or file a specific request with our customer service and support. Unless indicated otherwise in this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy, your data will not be used without your consent other than to handle your request/enquiry, e.g., to provide you with the service information you asked for, and not be used for any other purpose, unless expressly permitted or required by applicable law.
Your request/enquiry will be handled by Medela or, as necessary, by one of our local affiliated group companies or authorised distributor responsible for handling the topics addressed in your request/enquiry for your jurisdiction.

2. Cookies

2.1 Essential cookies

Cookies are small text files that our Website asks to place on your computer or other internet enabled devices, such as tablets or smartphones. If your browser is set to accept cookies, then your browser adds the text in a small file.
Except as indicated otherwise in this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy, the cookies used by us are essential for the functioning and performance of our Website, such as by making our Website work more efficiently and facilitating your use of the functionalities and services provided. We will not use the information stored in essential cookies for any other purpose than as strictly necessary to provide you with the services and functionalities requested.

2.2 Cookie Banner & Personalised Tracking

When you access our Website, we will ask for your consent to place additional cookies on your device by displaying a cookie banner ("Cookie Consent"). These cookies will not be strictly necessary for the functioning and performance of our Website but will help us to collect some of your personal data relating to your Website usage behaviour in order to improve our Website offering and services and/or to provide you with more personalised information and services, including targeted offers (see below Sections 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 for the corresponding cookies placed for Website analysis and remarketing purposes). The cookie banner informs you about the main purposes of the additional cookies and provides you with information about your choices and where you may access further information. Your continued use of our Website after having been displayed with the cookie banner will signify your consent to the described practices.

The wording of the Cookie Consent declaration can be viewed at the bottom of this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy. We explain the categories of non-essential cookies that may be placed on your device and their respective purposes in the context of the different services further below (see Sections 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6). At all times, you have the right to withdraw your Cookie Consent and individually opt-out from the placement of cookies and any collection of your information for the different purposes at any time with effect for the future, as further explained in the respective Sections 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 below.

2.3 Managing your cookie settings

Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you prefer, you can change your settings to generally refuse cookies, to delete cookies that have already been placed on your device, or to warn you before a cookie is placed. Please refer to your browser instructions or to www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more about how to adjust or modify your browser settings.
If you choose not to accept cookies, this may impair the usability of the Website and you may not be able to take advantage of some of our features and services offered.
If you use different devices to access our Website (e.g., smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.) you will need to ensure that each browser on each device is adjusted to reflect your cookie preferences.

2.4 Use of Google Universal Analytics

This Website uses Google Universal Analytics ("Google Analytics"), a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Irland (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyse how users use our Website, including the number of visitors to our Website, the Websites our visitors have come from, and the pages they visit. This information is used by us to improve our Website offer and services. As a rule, any information generated by the cookie about your use of our Website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States.

Google will use this information as our commissioned data processor to help us evaluate the use of our Website, to compile reports on Website activity and to provide other statistical and analytical services relating to usage of our Website. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the framework of Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google.
You may prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie about your use of this Website (including your IP address) and opt-out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all Websites by downloading and installing a browser-plugin which is available here.

In this case, an opt-out cookie will be placed on your browser that prevents any further tracking of your use of this Website by Google Analytics. Please remember that you will have to opt-out again if you delete all cookies stored on your device. You will also have to opt-out for each device you use to visit our Website.

For an overview of privacy at Google, please click here.

2.5 Pardot

This Website tracks visitor and prospect activities by using Pardot cookies which are placed in your browsers. The visitor cookie is composed of a unique visitor ID and the unique identifier for your account. This cookie is set for visitors by the Pardot tracking code. If you register your e-mail address on this Website (e.g. contact form, downloads) another Pardot cookie will remember your e-mail address and will match your e-mail address with your past and future activities (before and after e.g. submitting a form) based on your visitor ID. If you do not click "accept" in the cookie banner, the latter Pardot cookie will not be placed. Furthermore, you can withdraw your consent at any time, by deleting the cookies in your browsers.     

2.6 CrazyEgg

We use CrazyEgg in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimize our service and experience. CrazyEgg is a technology service that helps us better understand our users experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback. CrazyEgg uses cookies and other technologies to collect data on our users’ behavior and their devices (in particular device's IP address (captured and stored only in anonymized form), mouse scrolls, clicks on our Websites, keystrokes entered on our Website, viewed pages incl. duration, browser information, geographic location (country only), preferred language used to display our website). CrazyEgg has a technology in place to stop any recording of personal data (e.g. when filling out a contact form). For further details, please see CrazyEgg’s privacy policy by clicking on this link.

You can opt-out of CrazyEgg storing data about your usage of our Website by following CrazyEgg's opt-out instructions.  

2.7 Other Third-Party Cookies

Some content or applications, including advertisements, on the Website may be served by unaffiliated third parties. These may place cookies on your device for their own purposes. We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they may be used.
You may prevent the placement of and tracking by such third-party cookies by adjusting or modifying your browser settings accordingly. For further information, please refer to your browser instructions.

3. YouTube

This Website also embeds videos provided by YouTube LLC (“YouTube”). Using YouTube’s offering requires a connection to be established to YouTube’s servers in the US. During this process, certain information is transmitted to YouTube. For all YouTube videos embedded in our Website we have enabled the Privacy-enhanced mode offered by YouTube. This means that YouTube stores information about a visitor to our Website only if he or she chooses to play an embedded video. Medela does not control the collection, storage and use of any of your information by YouTube and does not have access to any information collected. You should read YouTube’s Privacy Policy carefully before you use any YouTube features.

Further information about how your data are collected and used by YouTube and your rights in relation to this can be found in YouTube's privacy policy at www.youtube.com.

4. Google Maps

This Website uses Google Maps ("Google Maps"), a map service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”) to display interactive maps.

To provide you with the maps requested, Google will collect your IP-address, which can be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google may further collect information about your usage of Google Maps. Please note that Medela does not control the collection, storage and use of any such information by Google and does not have any access to the information collected. You should read Google's privacy policy carefully before you use any Google Maps features. Google's privacy policy can be found here.

When you use Google Maps on our Website you agree to be bound by Google's Terms of Use, which can be found here.
If you do not wish Google to be able to collect any information about your use of Google Maps, you may prevent the collection of such information by disabling the Google Maps service entirely. In order to do so, you need to deactivate JavaScript within your browser settings. Please note that in this case you cannot use Google Maps at all.

5. Disclosure of your Personal Data

5.1 Medela is operating the Website as data controller. However, to ensure the customer relationship with you is handled efficiently, and to provide you with a good customer experience, your customer relationship will be managed directly by our Local Group Company or by an authorised distributor located in your country. The Local Group Company or the distributor will be responsible for the related processing and use of your personal data. For instance, Medela may share your personal data with the Local Group Company or the distributor where this is necessary to answer specific requests or enquiries submitted by you through our Website, to provide you with the services requested, or where otherwise necessary to handle the customer relationship with you. For these purposes, the Local Group Company or the distributor will be granted with access to your personal data stored by Medela and will collect, store, process and use such personal data on local level for the above purposes. Some of these distributors may be located in countries outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA which may not provide for the same level of data protection as in your country of residence. However, Medela has appropriate agreements in place with these distributors to ensure that they will take all necessary measures to protect your personal data in accordance with applicable requirements. For further information about our distributors, please contact us as further explained in Section 7 below.

5.2 In addition, Medela and/or the Local Group Company may use external technical service providers which are authorized to provide services on its behalf and in accordance with its instructions. These entities may have access to your personal data but only to the extent necessary to enable your use of our Website, including providing related services or handling your requests or enquiries. For instance, Medela (and/or, as applicable, the Local Group Company) may use service providers to host our Website, store your personal data, or analyse the information collected as explained in Section 2. These service providers may not disclose your personal data to any unauthorized third parties or use your personal data for any purposes other than as instructed. Some of these service providers may be located in countries outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA which may not provide for the same level of data protection as in your country of residence. However, Medela and/or, as applicable, the Local Group Company have appropriate agreements in place with these service providers to ensure that they will take all necessary measures to protect your personal data in accordance with applicable requirements. For further information about our service providers, please contact us as further explained in Section 7 below.

5.3 Other than as indicated above, we will not provide your personal data to any third party without your prior consent, unless we are compelled by law to do so.

6. Storage of your Personal Data and Data Security

Your data will be stored on servers in Switzerland. In addition, Medela and/or, as applicable, the Local Group Company or the authorised distributor may use cloud service providers located in countries outside Switzerland and the EU/EEA, including the United States of America (USA), to host and process your personal data for storage, communication and marketing purposes. While the laws of those countries may not provide for the same level of data protection as considered adequate in Switzerland or the EU/EEA, we have taken the necessary measures to ensure your personal data will be handled and protected appropriately and only be processed on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions.

We will treat your personal data confidential. We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorized disclosure or access, alteration, misuse, accidental or unlawful destruction or loss.

7. HIPAA Notice of Privacy Policy for Protected Health Information

To the extent that you are a U.S. citizen and may disclose “protected health information” as defined under U.S. law while accessing or using our Website, please refer to our HIPAA Privacy Policy and Notice of Privacy Practices to understand your rights and how we may use and disclose your protected health information.

8. California Residents

Medela’s Privacy Notice for California Residents supplements the information contained in this Policy and applies solely to visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California.

9. Your Rights / How to Contact Us

As per the provisions of applicable local data protection law, you have the right to request information as to what data we hold about you. In addition, where appropriate, you have the right to request the correction, deletion and/or blocking of your personal data and/or to object to the processing of your personal data for legitimate reasons.

You may further at any time, with effect for the future, withdraw any consent you have given. For this purpose, please make use of the opt-out mechanisms provided for the different services (please see the respective descriptions in the corresponding Sections of this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy) or you can also contact us per email as indicated below.

In case of any questions about the collection, processing and/or use of your personal data or to exercise your rights please send us an email at privacy.us@medela.com.

Nevada Residents:  Without limiting the foregoing, Nevada law may allow you to specifically direct us not to sell your covered information to third parties. If you are a Nevada resident, you may submit such opt-out requests by email at privacy.us@medela.com. To be effective, your request must include your full name, address and email address so that we may attempt to verify the authenticity of your request.

10. Changes to this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy

We reserve the right to make changes to this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy at any time with effect for the future. The then current version of this Healthcare Website Privacy & Cookie Policy will be made available on the Website. While we do not intend to make changes to this policy very often, it is always a good idea to double check our most current policy statement when you visit us to be sure that you have read and agree with what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it.

Annex: Consent declarations

To be fully transparent about its practices, Medela makes the content of consent declarations obtained through its Website available for access by its users. In the context of your use of our Website, you may have expressly given one or more of the following consent declarations:

Cookie Consent
We use cookies to analyze our traffic and to allow the best experience possible. We also share information about your use of our site with analytics partners. Please click "accept" to consent to the use of such cookies. Without your consent, only the essential and functional cookies will be installed, which are necessary to display our website correctly.

NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy

This Privacy & Cookie Policy ("NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy") applies to the mobile application NPWT App ("App") which is operated by Medela AG, Lättichstrasse 4b, 6340 Baar, Switzerland ("Medela" or "we").

This NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy governs the collection, processing and use of your personal data, when you use our App, and explains our practices with respect to the placement of cookies, including the types of cookies we use and how you can manage them.

The processing of personal data, such as the name, address, e-mail address, or telephone number of a data subject shall always be in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and in accordance with the country-specific data protection regulations applicable to the App. By means of this NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy, Medela would like to inform the App users of the nature, scope, and purpose of the personal data we collect, use and process. Furthermore, data subjects are informed, by means of this data protection declaration, of the rights to which they are entitled.

Medela built this App as a free app. It is provided by Medela at no cost and is intended for use as is.

If you choose to use this App, then you agree to the collection and use of information in relation to this NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy.

This App does not collect any personal data. However, it has implemented Google Analytics for Firebase. What this means is described below:

Google Analytics for Firebase (Google Inc.)

Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your device, to allow us to analyze how users use the App. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this App is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, IP anonymisation is activated. Therefore, Google will reduce your IP address within Member States of the European Union or in other states party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area beforehand. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. The IP address transmitted by your browser in the context of Google Analytics is not merged with other Google data.

Google will use this information as our commissioned data processor to help us evaluate the use of our App, to compile reports on App activity and to provide other statistical and analytical services relating to usage of our App. The IP address transmitted by your mobile device within the framework of Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google. Our legitimate interest in data processing also lies in these purposes. The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. Sessions and campaigns are terminated after a certain period of time. By default, sessions are closed after 30 minutes without activity and campaigns after six months. The time limit for campaigns may not exceed two years. For more information on terms of use and data protection, please visit www.firebase.google.com/terms/data-processing-terms.

We reserve the right to make changes to this NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy at any time with effect for the future. The then current version of this NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy will be made available within the App Store/ Google Play. While we do not intend to make changes to this policy very often, it is always a good idea to double check our most current policy statement when you visit us to be sure that you have read and agree with what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we disclose it.

NPWT App Privacy & Cookie Policy last revised in June 2018.