Medical privacy is your right. What you discuss with your doctor should stay between you and your doctor. But did you know that many Atlanta hospitals betray patient privacy by allowing Google and Facebook/Meta to snoop on patients while they use websites to research medical care and schedule appointments? If you’ve ever visited your doctor’s website to check labs or schedule an appointment and then seen ads for your health care concerns, that’s why. That isn’t just snooping—it’s illegal. If it bothers you, and you want to learn more about The Block Firm’s investigation into hospital privacy violations and potential class action to combat these invasions of privacy, contact us.
The Block Firm’s investigation has revealed the following:
- Major Atlanta hospitals:
- Inform Google when patients research conditions like elevated cancer markers and seeke cancer care.
- Tell marketing companies your age, gender, and what you’re researching in the patient portal.
- Tell Google and other trackers the health conditions you are worried about. Public reporting revealed that one prominent Atlanta hospital allowed Facebook/Meta to watch while patients scheduled appointments with their physicians.
- Tell Google and other trackers why you are visiting hospital websites, including the conditions you are seeking health care for.
And that is just a sample of these invasive practices. To stop Atlanta hospitals from selling your private medical data to online trackers, The Block Firm is considering a potential class action. In a class action, many injured people can efficiently join together to stop wrongful corporate policy. Contact us if you would like to learn more about our investigation, and potential class action litigation, into Atlanta hospital privacy violations.
Questions and answers about health care privacy
Q. What is health care privacy?
A. Health care privacy is the idea that information about your health belongs to you, and you have the right to decide how and to whom it is shared.
Q.Why is health care privacy important?
A. Your physical and mental health is some of most sensitive and personal information about you. The law recognizes that you have a right to determine who is entitled to know about your health.
Q. Which laws protect health care privacy?
A. A number of federal and state laws protect the privacy of your health care information. A federal law known as HIPAA is the main basis for federal protection for the privacy of health care information. Georgia’s courts have long recognized that the state constitution provides even more protection for Georgians’ health care privacy. And state and federal laws against wiretapping, among others, prohibit health care corporations from illegally sharing your health care information with third parties like Google, Facebook/Meta, and other online trackers.
Q. Why are companies interested in my health care data?
A. Simple: marketing. By knowing about illnesses or health concerns you have, large hospital corporations and other businesses can target you for customized marketing.
Q. What is The Block Firm doing about it?
A. The Block Firm is investigating a potential class action lawsuit to stop these violations of patient privacy. A class action is a special type of lawsuit that allows many people to join together to challenge unlawful corporate policy. A class action is the strongest, and often the only, way to challenge certain corporate behaviors. By leveraging economies of scale, the burden on individual plaintiffs is modest, while the entire class can benefit. If you are interested in learning more, please contact us.
