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South Shore Hospital Data Breach Lawsuits:
- Who: South Shore Hospital Corp. is being sued by two former patients.
- Why: The patients say they were harmed after the hospital allowed hackers to enter its information system in December 2021.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in an Illinois federal court.
A Chicago hospital system has been hit with its third lawsuit after a December data breach exposed more than 115,000 staff and patients to significant data privacy risks.
Plaintiffs Felice Know and Anna Marquez filed a class action complaint against South Shore Hospital Corp. Apr. 18 in an Illinois state court, alleging negligence.
The plaintiffs, both former patients of South Shore, allege the hospital system should have been able to prevent hackers from accessing its information system in December.
They also claim that the hospital had not implemented adequate security measures like strong password requirements and sufficient anti-malware and email phishing prevention tools.
Know and Marquez allege that, despite multiple recent attacks on hospital data systems, South Shore failed to implement “even the most basic, reasonable and cost-effective security procedures and practices for its patients’ and employees’ data.”
South Shore Delayed Advising Patients About Data Breach, Class Action Claims
South Shore learned that hackers accessed its system in December but waited nearly three months to publicly disclose the incident, Know and Marquez allege.
The time allowed hackers to begin using individuals’ compromised information before plaintiffs ever had a chance to take steps to protect themselves, the class action states.
Know and Marquez were advised that their personal information had been compromised on Mar. 31. They say that while they aren’t aware that anyone has used their stolen information yet, they have still been harmed.
In April, they enrolled in a one-year credit monitoring service they were offered as a result of the breach.
The lawsuit comes after two similar ones slapped on the hospital since March, Law360 reports.
The hospital is on the South Side of Chicago and serves more than 411,000 people.
The plaintiffs are looking to represent a nationwide class and an Illinois subclass of people whose personal information was compromised in the data breach.
Although federal HIPAA regulations and state laws are in place to protect your medical records from wrongful disclosure, unfortunately, they don’t always prevent cybercriminals from accessing medical records that are stored electronically.
Significantly, there were more than 600 health care-related data breaches in 2020, affecting nearly 29 million medical records.
For more information on how to protect yourself, click here.
If you were affected by a data breach, you might be eligible to join or file a class action lawsuit. Lawyers are currently investigating recent data breaches nationwide and the impact that they’ve had on Americans (links to paid attorney content).
Know and Marquez are represented by Gary Klinger of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC.
The South Shore Hospital Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is Felice V. Know et al. v. South Shore Hospital Corp., Case No. 2022-CH-03543, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Chancery Division.
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