Clinic website copy is usually written to persuade: “guaranteed result”, “the most modern method”, “no pain or side effects”, a testimonial from a grateful patient. But in advertising medical services the law prohibits exactly these wordings. This article is not legal advice, but a map of what is worth showing your lawyer before you launch the website and ads.
Short answer
The Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” (Article 21) strictly limits advertising of methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.
- Prohibited: promising a guaranteed effect, calling a method the most effective or the safest, citing cases of recovery and patient testimonials.
- Prohibited: doctors taking part in advertising treatment methods.
- Only methods permitted in Ukraine may be advertised, and only if you hold a licence.
In plain wordsA patient wants to hear “we will definitely help you”. The law forbids advertising from promising that. A good clinic website persuades differently: with facts about the doctors, the equipment, prices and how appointments work.
What the law requires of advertising treatment methods
Article 21 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advertising” covers advertising of medicines, medical devices and methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. For a clinic, the most important points are:
- Only permitted methods may be advertised. The method must be permitted for use in Ukraine, in the established way, by the central healthcare authority.
- The information must be objective, and it must be clear that it is advertising.
- The warning “Self-medication may be harmful to your health” must take up at least 15% of the area (or duration) of the whole advertisement. For a banner or a video in Meta this is a noticeable part of the frame, and it must be built into the layout from the start.
- You may not advertise without a licence. Article 8 prohibits advertising goods and services that require a licence if you do not have one.
What is prohibited in advertising medical services
Parts 5–7 of Article 21 list what advertising of methods of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation may not contain. Here is how that looks in the language of a typical clinic website:
| What the law prohibits | How it sounds on a website |
|---|---|
| Claiming that the treatment effect is guaranteed | “We guarantee the result”, “100% success” |
| Presenting a method as the most effective, the safest, without side effects | “The best method”, “absolutely safe”, “no complications whatsoever” |
| Referring to specific cases of successful treatment | “The story of a patient who recovered in a month” |
| Thank-you notes, letters and patient stories about results | A “Thank you, you helped us!” testimonials block in an ad |
| Recommendations from medical staff, scientists or institutions | “Recommended by leading doctors” |
| Doctors, and people who look like doctors, taking part | A doctor in a white coat in an advertising video or banner |
| Images of changes to the body caused by illness or injury | Photos of skin lesions or wounds |
| Claims that frighten people with illness left untreated | “If you do not come now, it will be too late” |
| Pushing people to diagnose and treat themselves | “Identify the disease by its symptoms and choose a treatment” |
| Therapeutic effects on diseases that cannot, or can hardly, be treated | “We treat the incurable” |
| Names and images of famous people, film characters, authoritative organisations | A celebrity who “trusts our clinic” |
Separately, Article 8 prohibits using a person’s image or name in advertising without their written consent. This applies both to photos of patients and photos of doctors.
Website or advertising: where the line is
The law regulates advertising. Whether a service page on a clinic website, a doctor’s profile or a testimonials block counts as advertising is a question for your lawyer, taking into account how the page is used. Ads in Meta, Google or on banners are advertising beyond doubt, and the landing page an ad leads to is also at risk. How to make sure a booking from such a page reaches the MIS and you can see which channel brought it is covered in the article on the website and the MIS.
The most reliable approach is to build the website copy as if every page could be treated as advertising. What the law requires of the booking form on those pages is covered in the article on consent and the privacy policy. Then you will not have to rewrite the website and ads after a complaint.
How to write copy that persuades without breaking the rules
- Facts instead of promises. Not “we guarantee the result”, but what exactly the procedure includes, how long it lasts and how to prepare.
- The doctor through qualifications, not advertising. Experience, specialisation and areas of work on the doctor’s page are information for the patient. Whether this doctor may appear in an advertisement is a question for your lawyer: the law prohibits doctors from taking part in advertising treatment methods.
- Prices in the open. A transparent price list by speciality persuades better than “the best prices in town” and removes the “just asking” calls.
- Testimonials separate from advertising. How and where to show patient testimonials is for you to decide with your lawyer; in ads, patient thank-yous are prohibited.
- Page structure built around you. Service pages, doctor profiles and an open price list are often hard to change in a website-builder template to meet a lawyer’s requirements — more in the article on template and custom websites.
- Consents in writing. Every photo of a patient or a doctor on the website and in ads needs written consent.
- Licence in plain sight. Information about the licence for medical practice helps both the patient and you.
How we do it
We are not lawyers and do not replace a legal review. But we build the website structure with the requirements for medical information in mind: service page and doctor profile templates with a place for qualifications, an open price list, a place for the licence. The clinic writes the website copy, the clinic’s lawyer makes the final check, and your team can later change the copy on its own, without a contractor.
Before publishing a service page or an ad
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Questions clinic owners ask
Can we show patient testimonials on the website?
In advertising treatment methods, thank-yous and patient stories about results are prohibited. Whether you may place testimonials on other pages of the website, and how, is for your lawyer to decide, taking into account whether that page would count as advertising.
Can we use “before” and “after” photos?
The law prohibits images of bodily changes caused by illness or injury in advertising, and references to specific cases of successful treatment. So “before/after” photos are a question for your lawyer, especially in ads and on ad landing pages.
Can we write that our doctor is the best?
Presenting a method as the most effective or the safest is prohibited in advertising. It is better to show facts: experience, specialisation, the areas the doctor works in.
Can we advertise the clinic on Instagram and Google?
Yes, but an ad is advertising, so all the requirements of Article 21 apply to it, including the self-medication warning over 15% of the area. The landing page the ad leads to should be checked in the same way.
For your developer
- Page templates. A service page: description, preparation, duration, price, doctors, booking; no “guarantees” block in the template.
- Licence. A field for licence details in the website settings, shown in the footer or on the “About the clinic” page.
- Testimonials. A separate record type that can be switched off on any page, including ad landing pages.
- Consents. A “written consent on file” field for photos of doctors and patients in the media library or in the doctor’s profile.
- Editing. Service and profile text is changed in the admin area, so edits after the legal review do not wait for a contractor.
If you would rather not do it yourself
We build clinic websites on WordPress with service and doctor pages, an open price list and online booking. We build the website structure with the requirements for medical information in mind; the clinic writes the copy and your lawyer makes the final check. Tell us about your clinic: within two working days we send a structure review, an indicative timeline and a price, with no obligation. The price is fixed before work starts. See our clinic website page.