How Hayes Connor Solicitors helps our clients after a medical data breach

At Hayes Connor Solicitors, we help our clients get the compensation they deserve following data protection breaches, cybercrime, and other online offences. One type of claim we see a lot of is medical data breaches.This is because, as our health and social care system becomes digital, there is a lack of robust protections in place to secure medical data.

Here are just some of the medical data breath cases we have helped our clients with recently.

Woman has her medical records unlawfully accessed by her ex in medical data breach

Our client was informed by a mutual friend that her ex-partner had illegally obtained her medical records. He could do this because he was employed by a local NHS Trust. The breach revealed our client's home address and contact details to her ex. He was also able to establish every time she had received services provided by the NHS Trust.

Because of this data breach, our client suffered significant stress and anxiety. Not least because the information was shared with numerous other people.

NHS family member shared confidential medical information

In this data breach, the sister-in-law of our client (who was a NHS staff member), accessed the NHS system. She then shared personal details about our client with the rest of her family. This included information about our client's baby.

As a result of this violation, our client's relationship with her family broke down. She received threats from a family member resulting in police involvement. She also had the ongoing worry of further danger. In response, our client suffered stress, anxiety attacks and trauma. Ultimately she required medication to help manage the psychological effects of this terrible breach of trust.

To make matter worse, the violation meant that our client could no longer continue her university studies. So she suffered the loss of expenses, and the opportunity to progress her career.

Sensitive medical information was sent to the wrong address by mistake

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) sent a copy of a confidential medical report to our client's former partner by mistake. The report said that he was depressed and suicidal.

Once our client's ex read the report - a document that she should never have had access to - she used its contents in an application to reduce his contact with his children. This application was successful.

This data breach has had a devastating impact on our client. Having reduced contact with his children has caused him considerable distress and upset. It also aggravated his mental health problems. So, in this case, the consequences have been particularly severe.

Fraudster got his hands on sensitive medical information by impersonating a member of staff

A woman (our client), was a patient in hospital having just given birth. While she was there, a fraudster impersonated a doctor to obtain information about her personal medical situation.

A student nurse provided the highly sensitive information to the imposter. This included details about a disease which our client had recently been diagnosed with, and with which she was struggling to come to terms with.

As she still does not know who accessed her data, and what might be done with, this situation is incredibly disturbing. And, understandably, this uncertainty has caused considerable distress.

Hospital gives sensitive pregnancy discharge pack to wrong woman

Before they leave hospital, new mothers are given a set of postnatal notes, with information about their labour, delivery and care in hospital.

Following the birth of her son, a woman (our client) was contacted on Facebook by a woman who knew her name, address and other personal information. Due to the personal information disclosed, she thought her estranged mother and sister were contacting her. This caused her substantial upset.

It eventually became clear that she was being contacted by a stranger who had been given her pregnancy discharge pack and the personal details of her son by mistake. This happened even though the other woman had attended a completely different hospital in a different town from her.

Because of this data breach, our client suffered stress, anxiety and trauma. This resulted in her needing medication from her GP. She has also suffered from ongoing flashbacks of family problems.

Help is needed after a medical data breach

These are just some examples of the types of medical data breaches we deal with every day. As you can see, these are serious cases that often put people's mental health and even their lives at risk.

At Hayes Connor Solicitors, we are 100% committed to seeking the compensation necessary to help people get their lives back on track following a data breach. But we don't believe that our obligation to our clients stops there. We also provide a wide range of information to help our clients protect themselves once a breach has occurred.

Find out more about making a medical data breach claim with Hayes Connor Solicitors.