CHICAGO (CN) - Surrogate parents of newborn triplets claim a hospital and major media outlets violated medical privacy laws and subjected them to "humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress" by publishing photos and stories about their newborns. The parents say they never gave Advocate Christ Medical Center permission to release personal information about them or their babies, nor did they agree that the Sun Times, Tribune Co. or WLS-TV could photograph and publish the babies' pictures.
Bryan and Cynthia became parents of triplets through a surrogate pregnancy in February, according to their complaint in Cook County Court. The children were born seven weeks prematurely and were placed in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. Around the same time, the hospital delivered three other sets of triplets.
About three days after the Lindgren triplets were born, Cynthia Lindgren says, she got a call from a nurse who said that news outlets were coming to the hospital to do a story on the four sets of triplets.
The nurse asked for permission to have the Lindgren children filmed, but Cynthia Lindgren said she demurred, saying she would have to speak with her husband.
But the hospital let the TV and newspapers go ahead anyway, the Lindgrens say.
WLS broadcast footage of one of the Lindgren children and disclosed their medical condition; the print articles also revealed where the family lives and how the children were conceived, the parents say.
The Lindgren' seek damages for intrusion upon seclusion, public disclosure of private facts, and appropriation of name and likeness.
They are represented by Kristen Case.
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