On Wednesday a case was removed from the District Court of Jefferson County, Texas to the Eastern District of Texas. The case was filed against CVS Health Solutions LLC and brings allegations of invasion of privacy and violation of HIPAA by an employee of CVS.
Pharmacies are one of the types of healthcare providers that are obligated under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to maintain the privacy of patient information. The information obtained from the patients is only permitted to be used for treatment and billing purposes and employers are required to supervise and train their employees regarding this information to prevent accidental or intentional inappropriate dissemination to other parties.
The plaintiff was a customer of CVS and used the pharmacy for her pharmaceutical needs. The plaintiff accuses a CVS employee of accessing her information without cause and sharing that information with another individual without obtaining proof of identity or other verification that the individual was permitted to access this information.
The employee is not named in the complaint. The specific information at issue in the case concerned the plaintiff’s prescription history.
The plaintiff is suing for respondeat superior and negligent hiring and retention. They are seeking actual damages, exemplary and statutory damages of over $1 million, and $500,000 in mental anguish damages. They are represented by the Carrier & Allison Law Group P.C. The defendants are represented by Cooper & Scully, P.C..
