Central Health Class Action Lawsuit to be Launched After Privacy Breach

A class action lawsuit in Canada will reportedly be launched against Central Health after the private health records of 240 patients were allegedly breached by an unauthorized employee. The violation happened over a span of two years and the employee who accessed the information is reportedly no longer employed with the company.

Some of the patients who have had their private health data accessed have reportedly contacted Bob Buckingham Law and sought representation for the Central Health class action lawsuit. In a press release by the firm, Buckingham calls the concern against the health breach “an apparent pattern to quite a few of the incidents respecting the type of medical records which were accessed.”

While the law firm did not comment on specific private health information privacy breaches, there have been several reported recently. In June, it was announced that millions of LifeLabs patients had their privacy breached when their health records were accessed. 15 million alleged patients had their private health records violated in a cyber attack against the laboratory testing company. Several class action lawsuits were filed against LifeLabs thereafter. The lawsuits scrutinized LifeLabs apparent lack of privacy regulations and standards that failed to secure personal health information from online hackers. LifeLabs has allegedly had several privacy breaches over the years, which were addressed in one of the class action lawsuits in Canada filed.

In addition, last month a Canada class action lawsuit was launched against Angita Pharma Inc. and The Jean Coutu Group for the illicit use of customers’ health records for profit. The pharmacy was accused of negligence for the actions of a group of pharmacists that planned a scheme to make money off of inappropriately accessing customers’ health records. An alleged group of 200 pharmacists illegally gave permission for Angita Pharma to access private and confidential patient medical files. 

On July 28, 2020, Central Health apologized about the incident and claimed that the unauthorized employee who accessed the records had been let go from the company. 

The Central Health employee allegedly invaded the health information of 240 patients over a two-year span, although the particular timeline has not been established. The 240 impacted patients have reportedly been notified of the Central Health privacy breach.

CBC News has asked several questions to Central Health and a spokesperson for the company admitted there have been many privacy breaches over the past two years.

A Central Health spokesperson responded to CBC News, reporting, “Central Health was made aware of a potential individual privacy breach on July 14, 2020. Upon investigation of the individual breach, other breaches were found. The breaches extend back approximately two years ago and affect approximately 240 individuals.” 

The CEO of Central Health Andrée Robichaud has reportedly announced on Twitter that the company values the confidentiality of patients and expresses deep regret about the privacy breach.

Presently, it remains unclear if Central Health has taken any precautions to avoid further patient privacy breaches. What is known is that patients’ private health records were accessed online and read by an unauthorized employee.

According to Central Health, access to the patients’ health data was protected by a username and password. The company alleges it operates regular audits of the employees’ means of entry to patient data to uphold privacy standards. 

The Central Health privacy breach class action lawsuit is being represented by Bob Buckingham Law and Eli Baker Law Office, who are aiming to lead clients to compensation and a guarantee that Central Health implements protective systems to protect patients’ privacy against breaches in the future.

The Bob Buckingham Law press release insists that any of the affected individuals who wish to be a part of the Central Health privacy breach class action lawsuit in Canada would be evaluating the apology from Central Health as well as seeking to ensure that Central Health implement satisfactory safeguards against data breaches to ensure they will not happen in the future. There should be systems to protect patients’ medical records.

Buckingham is disappointed in yet another privacy breach debacle regarding patients’ sensitive and highly personal medical records, especially in the light of several other similar incidents. 

“One would have expected all of the Health Authorities to, by now, have proper checks and balances in place, that there be appropriate, properly monitored audits to ensure these types of ongoing, consistent privacy breaches could not go undetected for more than two years” Buckinham said in a press release. 

He urges anyone who has been affected by Central Health’s privacy breach to exercise their right to be a part of a Central Health privacy breach class action lawsuit. 

According to Mr. Buckingham, all of the patients who have been notified of the privacy breach have the right to know how their personal data has been infringed on and potentially be compensated from the Central Health privacy breach class action lawsuit in Canada.

Are you a Central Health patient? What do you think about the privacy breach of hundreds of Central Health patients? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below! 

The Central Health privacy breach class action lawsuit is being represented by Bob Buckingham Law and Eli Baker Law Office.

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