A Montana resident filed a lawsuit March 11 against Kalispell, Mont.-based Logan Health Medical Center after a hacker gained access to 174,761 patients' protected health information.
The resident claims Logan Health did not take sufficient action to prevent the theft of this information.
Breach details
On Nov. 22, 2021, officials at the medical center became aware that an unauthorized user had viewed information from a single file server, which contained patients' names, addresses, medical record numbers, dates of birth, telephone numbers, email addresses, insurance claim information, dates of service, the patient's treating and referring physician, medical bill account numbers, and health insurance information.
The center notified patients of the breach Feb. 22 and said no evidence was found indicating that the hacker misused any of the patient information from the server.
The plaintiff noted that this data breach was the latest in a series of breaches reported by Logan Health and argues that the center did not take new or sufficient actions such as training, security protocols or further infrastructure protections to prevent further breaches.
The plaintiff is suing for negligence, invasion of privacy, breach of implied contract, breach of the Montana consumer protection laws and unjust enrichment.
The plaintiff also requests the health center pay attorney's fees and costs, an award of actual damages and treble damages.