Lawsuits filed against hospitals following data breaches are on the rise, according to a report released April 7 by law firm BakerHostetler.
BakerHostetler analyzed more than 1,270 data security incidents from 2021 that it helped clients manage. The data breaches occurred in a variety of industries, but healthcare was the most affected, making up 23 percent.
BakerHostetler's research team found that 23 of the incidents resulted in one or more lawsuits, resulting in more than 58 lawsuits. Forty-three of those lawsuits were filed against healthcare organizations.
"Now we are seeing multiple lawsuits following an incident notification in the same federal forum. Or, in the alternative, we see a handful of cases in one federal forum and another handful of cases in a state venue," the report said. "This duplicative litigation trend is increasing the 'race to the courthouse' filings and increasing the initial litigation defense costs and the ultimate cost of settlement, due to the number of plaintiffs’ attorneys involved."