Erica Yen writes:
As noted in our post last month, the fact that HIPAA does not provide for a private right of action has not stopped some state courts from allowing negligence claims using HIPAA to define a standard of care. That post discussed the Connecticut Supreme Court’s questionable creation of a new tort of “unauthorized disclosure of confidential medical information” by a healthcare provider.
When the plaintiff in the recent case of Haywood v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., No. 2:15-CV-373, 2018 WL 437562 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 16, 2018), first filed her complaint in state court, she probably was hoping that the same expansive reasoning used in the Connecticut case would extend to the alleged disclosure by a pharmaceutical company of her private medical information to her employer. In federal court, however, her unusual negligence claims were not allowed to proceed, under HIPAA or otherwise.
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