Pittsburgh-based UPMC is going to arbitration over a lawsuit claiming the health system shared patient data with Facebook.
Plaintiff Malinda Smidga agreed to the individual arbitration after admitting she clicked the "accept and continue" button complying with UPMC's terms and continued to use the health system's online services even after filing her lawsuit, according to an Oct. 31 court filing. The judge granted the request Nov. 21.
Ms. Smidga filed the proposed class-action complaint Aug. 25 against UPMC and Facebook parent company Meta in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania seeking damages, restitution and injunctive and other equitable relief. She claimed UPMC shared her protected health data with Facebook, allowing it to target her with ads based on that information.
UPMC is among a number of hospitals and health systems being sued after it was found the Meta Pixel tracking tool used on their websites may have been inadvertently transmitting data to the social media giant.
Ms. Smidga also agreed to sever her claims against Meta and move them to the Northern District of California, joining similar actions there.