Hospital Data Breach Attorney

What Kind of Settlement Can a Hospital Data Breach Attorney Help You Secure?

Data privacy lawsuits often cover monetary matters like the loss of funds or the time spent freezing accounts, reporting thefts, and monitoring your credit reports. For medical data leaks, a hospital data breach attorney can help your recover for: 

• Economic damages such as the cost of credit monitoring services, the loss of money stolen in a case of identity theft fraud, and missed financial opportunities. For example, if your credit is trashed because someone abuses your identity, you may lose out on home, car, or business loans.
• Non-economic damages such as the loss of time spent reporting fraud, securing your credit reports, and the ongoing stress of knowing that another act of fraud may endanger you at any time.
• Punitive damages, which are fees charged to punish particularly shocking negligence by the individual or institution that leaked your data, funds that may then be awarded to you. 

Your settlement result or verdict will reflect your unique circumstances and losses. You need an attorney who can investigate, verify, and effectively present these losses in negotiations or at trial. Joe Lyon of The Lyon Firm has the negotiating table and courtroom experience you deserve to ensure you take home the maximum amount you’re entitled to receive. 

What Information Leaks Can a Healthcare Data Breach Lawyer Handle?

The information that may be leaked by hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, or other healthcare-related data storage includes:

• Personal info: Full names and identifying information like your social security number, birth date, and addresses
• Financial details: Billing and payment information such as bank account routing numbers, credit card numbers, and CVV codes
• Medical data and biometrics: Your patient ID number, diagnoses, medications, treatment information, doctors you’ve consulted with, and your biometric identifiers like your fingerprints, iris scan, or facial recognition structure

This information in nefarious hands can lead to ID theft and fraud done in your name. It could mean your money is siphoned out of your accounts or debts are charged to your credit cards. Medical data could also be used to embarrass or blackmail individuals.

Breached medical history data could also result in insurance denials for future treatment. This is because insurance companies may look for or purchase information showing pre-existing conditions or forms of self-endangerment like a history of addiction in order to deny coverage.

What Does Your Healthcare Data Breach Attorney Need for a Lawsuit?

Here is some of the information your lawyer may need in order to file a hospital or healthcare data breach lawsuit. This information is not your responsibility — your attorney can legally demand (subpoena) the necessary information, or hire a qualified digital investigator on your behalf. 

That being said, proof in a healthcare data breach case may involve:

• Evidence of the breach itself as seen in computer security reports from the institution that held your data, access logs, or IT expert testimony
• Verifiable harm to you or your privacy, including perpetrated theft, attempted theft, or just the potential that your information was captured and could be used fraudulently in the future
• Direct liability regarding who or what was responsible for your data, such as a hospital’s IT department, a third-party security company, or an individual who failed at their job to change passwords or run audits in a timely manner

This is information you likely do not have easy access to, and so it is your lawyer’s job to obtain and document all of the above. Scroll down to the FAQs on this page for more information on what you can personally do to protect your data right away.

Pixel Tracking Tech May Violate HIPAA and Protected Health Information Requirements

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a warning to covered entities that they might be sharing protected health information (PHI) with third-party tracking vendors like Google and Facebook. 

These vendors use pixel technology to gather and analyze information about the user’s online activity. However, such sharing may violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The HHR warns that regulated healthcare covered entities cannot use such technologies in ways that would result in violations of HIPAA or PHI disclosure rules. 

Unauthorized PHI disclosures can reveal highly sensitive information about a patient, including: 

• Diagnoses of medical conditions
• Frequency of visits to health care professionals
• Location of medical treatments
• Types of medication being used

Such disclosures can then also lead to: 

• Fraud and scam attempts
• Identity theft
• Discrimination based on a medical condition
• Financial losses
• Other serious consequences based on health data

The warning comes in the wake of several breaches that affected nearly 6.5 million patients from different providers, including Advocate Aurora Health, Novant Health, Community Health Network, and WakeMed Health and Hospitals. These breaches were all connected with the providers applying pixel tracking tools to various aspects of their websites and patient portals.

Click here to read the HHS’ full updated guidelines on the use of tracking technology and HIPAA disclosures. 

The HHS’ statement contains full details, including which disclosures are impermissible and what regulated entities should do to protect PHI when using pixel tracking technology. Under HIPAA requirements, all PHI disclosures to outside vendors without patient consent require the vendor to have a  signed business association agreement (BAA) in place.

If you believe your protected health information has been compromised or shared inappropriately, contact a lawyer to determine what your next steps are. 

Contact an Experienced Hospital Privacy Breach Attorney

After a data breach, it is vital that you’re able to stop the flow of information, clear your accounts from fraudulent activity, and protect your identity for future financial and healthcare needs. Pursuing legal action against the company that compromised your data can help fund the remedies you need, and incentivize better privacy practices for you and other patients.

At The Lyon Firm, founding attorney Joe Lyon has served as lead counsel on multiple data breach cases, with one case result securing over $12.5 million in payouts and protections for a data breach class action involving 141,149 medical patients.

Your decision to hold a hospital, clinic, or healthcare facility accountable for a data breach can secure personal justice for you, your family, and your reputation. It can also be a form of community service, potentially beginning a class action lawsuit that can help hundreds of thousands across the country. 

Contact The Lyon Firm online or by calling (513) 381-2333 for a free, fully confidential, no-obligation consultation. We can help protect your rights to privacy and pursue the justice you need to secure your identity going forward.