A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Dothan, Ala.-based Flowers Hospital alleging the hospital had limited security measures in place to protect patient files, which resulted in patient information being stolen, according to a Dothan Eagle report.
Flowers Hospital discovered one of its employees had been stealing patient forms Feb. 26 following the arrest of its employees for selling stolen identities. The employee had been stealing forms containing patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health policy numbers, lab test information and diagnoses.
As a result of the data breach, a class-action lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, alleging Flowers Hospital violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and patients' privacy by failing to properly safeguard its files. The lawsuit further alleges the hospital's effort to mitigate the damage by offering one year of free credit monitoring to affected patients is not enough to offset the potential harm caused by the theft of the patient information, according to the report.
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