Recent news suggests an emerging digital-age trend in class action litigation: hospitals getting sued for data breaches. A suit filed by a New Mexico woman for a data breach after her stay in a Las Vegas hospital is just one example. An AP report describes the case:
A New Mexico woman is suing a hospital and its parent company after hackers accessed personal information belonging to her and more than 4 million other patients, the Albuquerque Journal reported Saturday.
Attorneys for Briana Brito said they were seeking class-action status for the lawsuit.
The suit, which was filed Sept. 19, alleges Brito had personal data stolen while hospitalized at Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas. According to Brito, the Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, which owns the hospital, didn't notify patients in a timely manner. She "now faces a substantial increased risk of identity theft, if not actual identity theft," the suit said.
Community Health Systems owns the hospital, and this is not the first suit to come out of the alleged data breach.
