A class action lawsuit has been filed against Loyola University Medical Center claiming the hospital's website secretly records users' personal health information and sends it to Facebook without their consent.
Plaintiffs Kensandra Smith and Mary Ellen Nilles filed a class action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court accusing LUMC of negligence, invasion of privacy, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, breach of implied duty of confidentiality, violations of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, violations of the Illinois Eavesdropping Statute, and violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
The lawsuit claims that LUMC operates a web portal that allows patients to book medical appointments, locate treatment facilities, search for doctors, research their conditions and symptoms, and more. The lawsuit alleges that the site allegedly uses various embedded trackers, including Meta/Facebook's Pixel tracker, to record user activities, including searches for sensitive health-related topics, to build profiles of users to better target marketing and advertising. The lawsuit states that these various tracking technologies allow for the widespread collection and transfer of patient information, including private and confidential medical information, without the patients' knowledge or consent.
The plaintiffs claim that they have used the LUMC website. They add that they had Facebook accounts and generally stayed logged into their Facebook accounts; thus, the Pixel tracker collected information regarding their activities on the website, their medical records, and their patient statuses and transferred the information, which is linked to their identity via Facebook, to Meta without their consent.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial to seek damages for themselves and their proposed class, plus court costs, interest, attorney fees, and other relief. In addition, they are seeking an injunction to prohibit LUMC from engaging in further alleged invasions of privacy, as described in the lawsuit.
They are represented by the attorneys David S. Almeida and Elena A. Belov, of Almeida Law Group, of Chicago, and Tyler B. Ewigleben, Christopher D. Jennings, Winston Hudson and Laura Edmondson, of The Johnson Law Firm, of Little Rock, Arkansas.