Medical Informatics data breach litigation has now been moved and centralized. Medical Informatics data breach litigation was to be expected after such a major breach of data, but numerous lawsuits have been filed of a very similar nature, with most making virtually identical claims. In an effort to ease the burden on the judicial system, the decision was taken to centralize the lawsuits and move them to a more appropriate location.
The data breach was suffered in May 2015. Healthcare patients had some of their Protected Health Information exposed and have started legal action to recover damages for actual losses as well as for the elevated risk of identity theft and fraud that they are likely to face over the coming years.
Some lawsuits have been filed that claim that some of the victims of the breach have already suffered actual injury as a result of the exposure of their PHI. Many victims have had to take action to reduce the risk of fraud, such as paying for identity theft monitoring services. Some are claiming they have suffered mental distress as a result of the exposure of their data.
Most of the lawsuits claim that Medical Informatics Engineering was negligent and failed to take appropriate actions to safeguard the PHI it held. It is alleged that if appropriate safeguards had been put in place prior to the breach, PHI would have been secured and no theft occurred. The data stolen from the company included names, contact telephone numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, spousal information, and medical records. The data carries a high value and can be used by criminals to commit fraud and identity theft.
Medical Informatics Data Breach Litigation Now Centralized
There are nine pending lawsuits filed against Medical Informatics Engineering for the data breach along with a further 12 related actions. The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation took the decision to centralize the lawsuits and pending actions, moving the litigation to the Northern District of Indiana. The litigation will now take place where Medical Informatics Engineering is headquartered, and where most of the current pending lawsuits are located.
Five lawsuits were already pending in the Northern District of Indiana, with one each in the Southern District of Indiana, the Western District of Washington, the District of Kansas, and the Southern District of California. Other related actions were moved from the Southern District of Indiana and Middle District of Florida. The majority of the pending lawsuits were filed in locations where healthcare providers who used Medical Informatics Engineering as one of their vendors were located.