Legal

Terms of Service

Effective Date: September 11, 2026
Last Updated: September 11, 2026

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern your use of the Ephatha website, online scheduling service, appointment-management features, and related services (collectively, the “Service”). By using the Service, you agree to these Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

1. About Ephatha

Ephatha is operated by Grace Valookkaran Paul (Grace V Paul), an authorized and registered rehabilitation professional in India. Grace V Paul is registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI)under Central Rehabilitation Register (CRR) No. A92329as an Audiologist and Speech-Language Pathologist.

Grace V Paul has completed a Bachelor in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (BASLP) in 2022 and an M.Sc. in Speech-Language Pathology in 2024 from recognized universities in India. Her RCI registration was issued on September 13, 2023 and is valid until February 22, 2030, subject to applicable RCI requirements.

The Service allows visitors to review available services and appointment times and, where enabled, book, reschedule, or cancel appointments.

2. Eligibility and Authority

You must provide information that is accurate and current when making an appointment. If you book on behalf of another person, including a child, you confirm that you are authorized to do so and may provide the information necessary to arrange the appointment.

3. Appointments

An appointment is not confirmed until the Service displays a confirmation and/or otherwise indicates that the booking was successfully created. Available times can change because of concurrent bookings, therapist availability, calendar conflicts, technical problems, or changes made by Ephatha.

Ephatha may need to cancel, reschedule, or decline an appointment when required by circumstances outside its reasonable control. Where this occurs, reasonable efforts will be made to communicate the change using the contact information associated with the appointment.

4. Rescheduling and Cancellation

You may use the appointment-management link supplied with your booking when rescheduling or cancellation is enabled. Any applicable notice periods, cancellation rules, fees, or refund terms are those displayed or communicated for the relevant service at the time of booking.

If no separate cancellation fee is stated, cancellation does not create a fee solely because these Terms exist.

5. Online Sessions and Technology

Where an appointment is offered online, the session may use Google Meet or another technology identified by Ephatha. You are responsible for having a suitable device, internet connection, and a reasonably private environment. Third-party platforms may have their own terms, privacy policies, outages, or technical limitations.

6. Not an Emergency Service

Ephatha is not an emergency, crisis-response, or 24-hour medical service. Do not use the booking system for an urgent medical or mental-health emergency. If you believe you or another person is in immediate danger or requires emergency medical attention, contact the appropriate local emergency service or healthcare provider.

7. Professional Licensing and Cross-Border Services

Professional licensing, scope-of-practice, telehealth, healthcare, consumer-protection, and privacy rules can depend on the location of the client and the professional at the time services are delivered. Ephatha will determine whether a requested service can be provided in a particular circumstance.

Booking an appointment does not by itself guarantee that a professional service can lawfully be delivered in every jurisdiction. Clients in India, the United States, the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and elsewhere may have mandatory legal protections that cannot be waived by these Terms. Nothing in these Terms is intended to exclude those protections.

8. Information You Provide

You agree not to submit information that is knowingly false, misleading, unlawful, abusive, or unrelated to the booking process. Please do not submit passwords, payment-card information, or detailed clinical records through fields that do not specifically request them.

9. Appointment-Management Links

Appointment-management links are private credentials for managing a particular appointment. Do not share them publicly. If you believe someone else has obtained your appointment link without authorization, contact Ephatha as soon as possible.

10. Acceptable Use

You must not:

1. attempt to gain unauthorized access to administrative areas, accounts, databases, or security controls;
2. interfere with or disrupt the Service;
3. use automated activity to abuse availability, booking, or appointment-management endpoints;
4. probe, bypass, or defeat authentication or access controls;
5. use the Service for unlawful, fraudulent, or abusive purposes; or
6. misrepresent your identity or authority when making or managing an appointment.

11. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise stated, the Ephatha name, branding, website design, text, graphics, software, and other materials provided by Ephatha are owned by or licensed to Ephatha and may not be copied, modified, redistributed, or commercially exploited without permission, except where permitted by law.

12. Third-Party Services

Ephatha relies on third-party infrastructure and services, including hosting, database, calendar, and video-conferencing providers. We are not responsible for independent failures, policy changes, or terms imposed by third-party providers, although we will take reasonable steps to maintain the Service.

13. Privacy

Your use of the Service is also governed by the Ephatha Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which explain how personal information and cookies are handled. Those policies form part of these Terms for information-handling purposes.

14. Service Availability

We aim to keep the Service reliable, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted or error-free availability. Maintenance, updates, provider outages, internet failures, security incidents, and circumstances beyond our reasonable control may temporarily affect availability.

15. Disclaimers

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided on an “as available” basis. Information displayed by the website, including availability and service descriptions, may change. Nothing on the public website is a substitute for individualized professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

16. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Ephatha will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive losses arising from use of the website or inability to use it.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including applicable consumer rights or liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence where such limitation would be unlawful.

17. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to be responsible for losses reasonably arising from your material breach of these Terms, unlawful use of the Service, or misuse of appointment-management credentials. This section does not limit any rights you have under mandatory consumer-protection law.

18. Changes to the Terms

We may update these Terms when the Service, legal requirements, or operating practices change. The updated version will be published on this page with a revised effective date. Continued use of the Service after an update constitutes acceptance where such acceptance is legally effective; where applicable law requires additional notice or consent, we will provide it.

19. Governing Law and Disputes

Ephatha is operated from India, and Indian law will generally govern the relationship to the extent legally permitted. However, this clause does not override mandatory consumer-protection, healthcare, privacy, telehealth, or other laws that apply to a client based on their location or the location where professional services are delivered.

Nothing in these Terms prevents a consumer from exercising a mandatory right to bring a claim before a court or regulator that has jurisdiction under applicable law.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms should be sent to:

Grace Valookkaran Paul (Grace V Paul)
RCI CRR No. A92329
gracepaulaslp@gmail.com