Medical Data Breaches in Oklahoma: What Patients Can Sue For in Damages
There are various ways that you can take action against someone who did not take reasonable measures to protect your medical data. The Oklahoma data breach attorneys at Federman & Sherwood can hold the responsible party accountable.
Although you may not be able to file a direct lawsuit under HIPAA, there are numerous Oklahoma laws that would allow you to sue. If you are able to prove that someone broke the law, they would owe you full damages. The compensation you receive could pay you for both your economic and non-economic losses that you have suffered from the data breach.
Schedule a free initial consultation with the Oklahoma data breach lawyers at Federman & Sherwood. We can explain the legal path forward and fight for you to be compensated.
Your Legal Remedies Would Come Under State Law for a Medical Data Breach
No matter how strict the laws are that protect your medical data, there are always those in the medical profession who may be careless when it comes to protecting your personal information. When your medical data has been subject to a breach, you may have a right of action against the party who was supposed to protect it.
When you think about the safekeeping of your medical information, your thoughts may first turn to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). However, HIPAA does not allow you to file a lawsuit against the medical provider on your own. Only the government has the right to take action under HIPAA, meaning you must find another way to file a lawsuit if you wish to receive compensation.
The good news is that there are alternative pathways to compensation when your medical data has been breached. The most common route to compensation for a medical data breach is to file a lawsuit under state law. There are several different ways that you can sue a medical provider for a data breach in Oklahoma:
- Common law negligence
- Breach of the contract between you and the medical provider
- The Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act
You may include multiple grounds in your lawsuit, each of which could entitle you to financial compensation if you win your case. Even if you prevail on more than one ground, it would not mean that you get additional compensation. Your data breach attorney can review the circumstances of your case, and the damages that you have suffered, to help you determine how much you should seek in a lawsuit.
Damages in a Successful Medical Breach Lawsuit
If you prevail in your data breach lawsuit, or if your case is settled, you are entitled to be restored to the same position that you were in before your information was compromised. The defendant would need to use money to pay for all the damage that you have suffered.
The first category of compensation to which you were entitled is economic Damages. You are entitled to be paid for all of the actual Financial losses that you have suffered due to the data breach. In the medical context, your losses may include the following:
- Reimbursement for any fraudulent charges that have been made in your name
- Lost time and income spent resolving the breach
- Unauthorized medical billing or insurance fraud
- Credit monitoring services
- Emotional distress from the loss of your privacy
Do not make the mistake of underestimating the amount of emotional distress damages that you could suffer in a data breach involving your medical records. You could have been particularly affected if a specific medical condition that you are suffering from falls into the wrong hands. Further, you may have suffered distress in general from knowing the fact that your personal and sensitive information was compromised.
In certain rare instances, you may even qualify for punitive damages if the defendant’s conduct was egregious. However, you would need to win your lawsuit in front of a jury, and they would need to assess these damages.
A data breach lawyer at Federman & Sherwood can review your case to help you estimate the amount of damages that you have suffered. Then, they can advise you about whether you want to file an individual or class action lawsuit against the medical practice that was passed with protecting your data.
Contact an Oklahoma Data Breach Law Firm Today
If your medical records have been taken because they were inadequately protected, get legal help from an Oklahoma data breach attorney at Federman & Sherwood. We have offices in Oklahoma and Texas, and we serve clients nationwide. You can schedule a free initial consultation by visiting our website or by calling us today at (800) 237-1277.