Kansas City, MO. – A collective appeal was filed after lawyers said that a physiotherapist with university health files “illegally accessible”, including “potentially naked clinical photographs”, more than 400 patients who had asked for care in a separate Kansas hospital.
The trial was filed Tuesday before the American district court of Kansas City, Kansas, Naming Ku Health, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Epic Systems Corporation as defendants. He highlights two women – identified as “Jane Doe # 1” and “Jane Doe # 2” throughout the costume – which received letters in 2023, informing them of the violation.
A spokesperson for Ku Health said on Wednesday that he was examining complaints.
According to a law firm based in Kansas City who filed the trial, Siegel Hanson LLP, the violation began in February 2021 and was only discovered in February 2023. Care.
The trial, which does not name the physiotherapist in question, says that he had no affiliation with the Lawrence hospital or his clinic and had never provided treatment to any of the patients. He claims that the epic portal has allowed patient data sharing between unrelated health systems.
“The violation of privacy suffered by these patients is simply devastating,” said Sueve Siegel Hanson lawyer Austin Moore in a statement.
“There is a serious problem in the health care industry when an unauthorized employee can access patient files in an unconquined medical establishment without any surveillance. We are looking for this case to plead for stronger guarantees around patient data and to keep those responsible for those who have failed to protect them. ”
According to the trial, Ku Health sent a letter in April 2023 to the victims, informing them of the data violation and admitting that an employee had accessed his information “outside of his functions”.
Ku Health said in the letter that the employee had been dismissed; However, according to the law firm, the letter at the time did not specify the compromised “clinical information”, “leaving many unconscious patients of the complete extent of what happened”.
The applicants “Doe # 1” and “Doe # 2” both said in the trial they had received from LMH care between 2021 and 2023, and as part of these procedures, preoperative and postoperative photos of their naked bodies were collected and have been part of their medical records.
The law firm declared that his trial affirmed the allegations of negligence, the invasion of privacy, the violations of civil rights and the violations of the law on fraud and the computer abuse and the law on communications stored, among other complaints made against Ku Health, LMH and Epic.
The trial requests a trial before jury and requests the court to grant compensatory and punitive damages to the complainants.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ku Health said: “The University of Kansas hospital is one of the three parties appointed in a trial alleging violations of patients’ privacy. We take this seriously; Patient life is very important to us. We have just received the complaint, and our teams are currently examining it. ”
Fox4 also contacted Epic and LMH to comment.
Epic did not respond; However, LMH said: “LMH health was informed this morning that it is one of the three parties appointed to legal action alleging violations of patient life. Although we cannot comment on the judicial measures in progress, we want to reassure our patients and our communities that we will take an alleged violation of the private life of patients that we can share as they are revised by legal advice.
A hearing date has not yet been set in the case.