WestFair Communications: A groundbreaking legal case involving a former New Canaan resident will change how medical offices go about making sure they are fully compliant with HIPAA statutes — and could lead to numerous other legal actions in the state, according to attorney Bruce Elstein.
Elstein, who resides in Trumbull and is with the firm Goldman Gruder & Woods LLC, which has offices in Trumbull, Norwalk, Greenwich and Tarrytown, New York, in January won a state Supreme Court ruling establishing that patients in Connecticut have the right to sue doctors and other health care providers for the disclosure of their confidential medical records without the patient’s consent.
That it took 12 years — and isn’t over yet — came as a surprise to Elstein.
“I thought it was just a breach of confidentiality case,” he said. “But as we went along, the HIPAA element came into it.”
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