Anne Bucher  |  September 16, 2013

Category: Legal News

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Advocate Healthcare LawsuitAdvocate Health Care has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of failing to adequately protect patients’ personal data after four unencrypted laptops were stolen from its facility. It is reportedly the second largest HIPAA data breach to date, affecting more than 4 million people who may have had their private health information and Social Security Numbers compromised.

The class action lawsuit was filed on September 5 in Cook County Circuit Court by Chicago-area patients whose information was stolen from a medical office. The plaintiffs claim that Advocate should have taken more steps to protect patient information. Their attorneys suspect that millions of Advocate patients may have been affected by the security breach.

On July 15, four laptop computers that contained patient data from more than four million patients were taken from an Advocate Health office in Park Ridge, Illinois. While the laptops were password-protected, the information they contained was not encrypted.

Although Advocate Health was aware of the breach on July 15, it did not notify patients of the breach until August 23 — more than one month after the laptops were stolen. According to the class action lawsuit, patient data could have been bought and sold many times during this period of time. Because they weren’t informed about the data breach for more than a month, the plaintiffs and other Class Members did not have a chance to take steps to protect their privacy.

“As a direct and/or proximate result of the Data Breach, Plaintiffs and Class Members will now be required to take the time and effort to mitigate the actual and potential impact of the Data Breach on their lives, including, inter alia, placing ‘freezes’ and ‘alerts’ with the credit reporting agencies, closing or modifying financial accounts, and closely reviewing and monitoring their credit reports for unauthorized activity,” the class action lawsuit says. Further, because their Social Security numbers were compromised, “they also now face a significantly heightened risk of identity theft.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued numerous warnings about the dangers of identity theft. Stolen Social Security numbers may help identity thieves to open credit cards, obtain false identification cards, file fraudulent tax returns or obtain jobs in the victim’s name.

According to the FTC, “Social Security numbers are incredibly difficult to change and their misuse can continue for years into the future.” When medical data is compromised, a patient’s health records can be at risk. The class action lawsuit seeks to certify a class of patients whose personal identifying information was stored on the laptops that were stolen from Advocate’s Park Ridge office.

By filing the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory, statutory, nominal and exemplary damages; injunctive relief, pre- and post-judgment interest; attorneys’ fees and court costs. They have requested a trial by jury.

The plaintiffs are represented by Ben Barnow, Sharon Harris and Blake A. Strautins of Barnow and Associates PC, Aron D. Robinson of the Law Office of Aron D. Robinson and Richard L. Coffman of the Coffman Law Firm.

The Advocate Health Care Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Erica Tierney and Andris Strautins, et al. v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., a/k/a/ Advocate Medical Group, Case No. 1:13-cv-06237, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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19 thoughts onSecurity Breach Spurs Class Action Lawsuit against Advocate Health Care

  1. K. Martel says:

    Me, my husband and two children are affected by the breach. How do we go about signing up to be part of the lawsuit? Thank you.

  2. Kathleen Martel says:

    Myself, my husband, my son and daughter were all affected by the breach. How do we go about being included in this class action suit? Thank you. Target, and Home Depot also had a breach that we are a part of.

  3. Thomas Gricus says:

    My family members had visits to Christ hospital, and we’d like to be included in this class action. How might we proceed?

  4. M.Gamez says:

    How can I be included? My husband, daughter and my information all were in those computers as well.

  5. D. Campos says:

    I also want to be included, along with my 2 daughters and my mother in law, all of which were affected by this breach.

  6. L. Adams says:

    Include me and my mother.

  7. Karen vance says:

    Sign me up

  8. allison van schindel says:

    include me in this lawsuit

  9. TRINETTE ESKRIDGE says:

    I RECIEVED A LETTER ALSO. PLEASE INCLUDE ME IN THE LAWSUIT

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