Class Action Complaint Filed Against East Tennessee Children’s Hospital Over Data Breach
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital finds itself as the defendant against a class action complaint after a data breach in March allowed personal information of over 400,000 patients to be exposed.
The complaint was filed last week by a patient and their parent, alleging that the personal information of 422,531 patients was compromised in a data breach that occurred in March. The information included names, contact information, date of birth, social security numbers, and patient medical history.
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The complaints are seeking status as a class action lawsuit that would allow any impacted patients to join. They are asking that the hospital pay damages and legal fees if the case is successful in court.
The families filing the complaint allege that the hospital displayed negligence in failing to use the proper safeguards against the security breach and did not meet their fiduciary responsibility to protect their patients and former patients. They also argue that the information compromise was a breach of the “implied contract” between the hospital and patients.
The hospital is providing families impacted by the breach with identity theft protection and free credit monitoring. The hospital would not comment on the pending case but did release the following statement:
“Along with providing outstanding patient care, the confidentiality, privacy, and security of information within our care are among East Tennessee Children’s Hospital’s highest priorities. Upon identifying this incident, we promptly took steps to secure our systems and investigate the full scope of the event. We are also reviewing and strengthening existing policies, procedures, and safeguards related to cyber security and have already taken additional steps to further enhance the security of our systems. We notified federal law enforcement of this incident, as well as appropriate state and federal regulators. We also mailed notices with information about the incident to those individuals for whom we have address information and, as an added precaution, we are providing individuals with credit monitoring and identity theft protection services at no cost. Information on the services and instructions on how to enroll in these services is included in the letter mailed to individuals.”
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
