A federal lawsuit filed against Charlotte, N.C.-based Atrium Health alleges the health system shared patient information with Facebook and Google, The Charlotte Observer reported April 15.
The class-action lawsuit, filed April 10 in North Carolina by plaintiffs identified only as North Carolina resident J.S. and Michigan citizen J.R., alleges that through the use of Facebook's Meta Pixel code on the health system's website, Atrium Health allowed Facebook and Google to access patient information online to use in targeted ads.
Plaintiffs say they first observed this taking place in June 2022.
The plaintiffs also allege that they began receiving unsolicited emails and Facebook advertisements concerning their medical issues following their disclosure of information to Atrium.
"At Atrium Health, privacy is critically important to us, and we have stringent and effective safeguards in place. No protected health information is shared with common consumer platforms such as Facebook," an Atrium spokesperson told Becker's. "Atrium Health patients are directed to secure, confidential portals where information is shared only with their care teams."
Additionally, Atrium said a nearly identical case was previously filed against the organization, and that the plaintiffs "voluntarily withdrew their case after reviewing the facts about Atrium Health's patient health portal safeguards in our request for the court to dismiss the case. Ultimately, they recognized that their case was unlikely to succeed."