WellNow class action alleges urgent care data breach harmed patients

WellNow class action overview: 

• Who: Plaintiff Susan Maguire-Whipple filed a class action lawsuit against WellNow Urgent Care and The Aspen Group. 
• Why: The class action alleges WellNow did not properly secure patient data and had a data breach on April 25, 2023.
• Where: The WellNow data breach class action was filed in federal court in Illinois.

A new WellNow class action alleges the urgent care provider and parent company The Aspen Group did not do enough to secure data and prevent an April 2023 data breach.

The WellNow data breach included names, dates of birth, health information and more from patients who used WellNow Urgent Care.

WellNow informed patients on Feb. 22, 2024, if their personal or protected health information had been accessed in the WellNow data breach.

“The data breach was a direct result of defendants’ failure to implement adequate and reasonable cyber-security procedures and protocols necessary to protect individuals’ private information with which it was hired to protect,” says the WellNow class action, filed by plaintiff Susan Maguire-Whipple.

WellNow data breach resulted from improper security, encryption, training and more, class action says

WellNow failed to maintain proper network security, safeguards, staff training, data encryption and detection when its network was compromised, the class action says.

Customers now face a long-term risk of having their data targeted, accessed, misused and disseminated on the dark web as a result of the WellNow data breach, forcing them to continuously monitor their medical and financial accounts, the WellNow class action says.

Maguire-Whipple is seeking compensatory damages, reimbursement of out-of-pocket costs and injunctive relief including improvements to the WellNow data security systems. They also ask for future annual audits and long-term adequate credit monitoring paid for by WellNow.

“The exposure of one’s private information to cybercriminals is a bell that cannot be un-rung,” the class action lawsuit says.

Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinics agreed to a class action lawsuit settlement to resolve similar claims that it failed to protect consumer information from a 2023 data breach.

Was your data compromised in the WellNow data breach? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by Gary M. Klinger of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC and Kenneth J. Grunfeld of Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilberg.

The WellNow class action lawsuit is Maguire-Whipple v. WellNow Urgent Care PC, Case No. 1:24-cv-02183, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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