UCSF Violated Medical Privacy|30,000 Times, Class Claims

OAKLAND, CALIF. (CN) - The University of California, San Francisco, gave confidential medical information about 30,000 UCSF medical school patients to Target America, a fund raiser, which published 6,000 people's confidential medical records on the Internet, a class action claims in Federal Court.

Plaintiffs say the UCSF did not inform its patients of the security breach until 6 months after it found out about it.

The complaint claims that UCSF paid Target America $12,000 a year to use its list to solicit donations from rich people.

"Target America maintains a database of '7+ million wealthy individuals' and advertises on its Web site that it allows health care organizations to screen their patients against Target America's database as well as the client's donor database on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis," the complaint states.

It claims UCSF paid Target $12,000 a year "between 2004 and 2007" and supplied it "with information about approximately 30,000 UCSF patients including, but not limited to, patients' names, addresses, medical record numbers, dates of treatment, and the specific clinics and physicians from whom the patients received treatment. ...

"In 2007, Target America exposed and published on the Internet confidential medical information for approximately 6,000 of the 30,000 patients whose info Defendants had disclosed to Target America. The confidential medical information made available on the Internet included patients' names, addresses, medical record numbers, dates of treatment, and the specific clinics and physicians from whom the patients received treatment."

The class demands an injunction and statutory damages of $1,000 per person. It is represented by Eric Gibbs with Gerard Gibbs.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit