November 6, 2014
A case involving a Westport medical office’s alleged violation of HIPAA regulations has set a legal precedent in Connecticut, according to the attorney for the plaintiff, and the case will now be heard.
In the first case of its kind in Connecticut, the state Supreme Court ruled that patients can sue for negligence if a medical office violates HIPAA regulations, which dictate how medical offices must maintain patient confidentiality, said attorney Bruce Elstein, who argued the case, in a statement.
The HIPAA law — the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 —was passed to protect the privacy of patients’ health information.
Connecticut now joins at least three other states with courts ruling similarly: Missouri, West Virginia and North Carolina, according to a spokesperson for Trumbull-based law firm Goldman, Gruder & Woods, where Elstein works.
Elstein, according to a statement, used state and federal privacy laws as the basis of a case he is trying on behalf of a woman who alleges a Westport medical office violated her right to privacy.
“Before this ruling, individuals could not file a lawsuit claiming violation of their privacy under the HIPAA regulations,” Elstein said. “It was for that reason that we filed a negligence claim, claiming the medical office was negligent when it released confidential medical records contrary to the requirements set forth in the HIPAA regulations. The state Supreme Court agreed that a violation of HIPAA regulations may constitute a violation of generally accepted standards of care, and remanded the case back to the lower court for trial.”
It took the state Supreme Court nearly two years to decide the case could proceed to trial.
The plaintiff was allegedly a patient of the Avery Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology in Westport. Elstein said she was pregnant and had asked the center not to release her records. Under a subpoena from the alleged father, however, Elstein said the center released the data.
Elstein said, “Shortly afterward she called the Avery Center to instruct them not to release any of her medical information to the father of the child, with whom she was no longer in a relationship. This request was well within her rights as protected under the HIPAA Act.”
The information contained in the medical file was highly sensitive, deeply personal and confidential, Elstein said. Elstein maintained the center “failed to make any attempt to notify his client of the subpoena or to seek guidance from a court on the disclosure to be made.” Had HIPAA been followed, Elstein alleged, his client “would have been able to keep her sensitive and private information confidential.”
The woman in the case has moved out of state, as separately has the man.
The case will go back to trial as a negligence case, likely in 2015, Elstein said.
Goldman, Gruder & Woods LLC represents individuals, employers and employees in matters related to business, real estate, employment, education, criminal, litigation and health care laws. The firm, with a focus on smaller or closely held businesses, has offices in Norwalk, Greenwich and Trumbull.
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