Class Action Claims CentraState Healthcare Left Patient Data Vulnerable to Cyberattacks

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A proposed class action accuses CentraState Healthcare System and Executive Director of Health Information Management and Privacy Officer Shaunna Ellison of failing to protect patients’ personal data from a December 2022 cyberattack.

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According to the 46-page lawsuit, the computer system used by the New Jersey-based healthcare provider was infiltrated by an unauthorized third party on or around December 29, compromising the sensitive data of CentraState’s patients and their families. The suit relays that the personal and medical information accessed in the data breach included, but is not limited to, patients’ names, home addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, email addresses, demographic information, medical record numbers, patient account numbers and treatment details.

The case charges that the highly sensitive data in CentraState’s medical record systems was stored in a “vulnerable” and “dangerous condition,” and that the cyberattack occurred as a result of the defendants’ failure to implement adequate cybersecurity practices to protect it.

What’s more, the complaint claims that CentraState was well-aware of the threat of a ransomware attack given that the highly valuable nature of the information stored in its systems and prevalence of data breaches in the medical industry.

The plaintiff, a Georgia resident and former patient, received notice on February 8, 2023, that her personal information had been compromised in the data breach, the filing says.

CentraState’s “reckless” and “wrongful” conduct and the resultant cyberattack have put the plaintiff and other victims at an “imminent, immediate and continuing … risk of identity theft, identity fraud and medical fraud,” the case contends.

The lawsuit looks to represent any current or former patients of CentraState, or any of its affiliates, who had their personal information compromised by an unknown third party as a result of the December 2022 data breach.

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