NY Appellate Court OKs Punitive Damages for Privacy Breach

An intermediate appellate court in New York has affirmed the award of punitive damages in a breach of privacy case where a medical practice failed to keep a patient’s abortion private from her parents.

The patient had an abortion at Long Island Surgi-Center in 1999 and verbally instructed the staff to contact her on her cell phone because she did not want her parents to know about it, court records show. But after the procedure, a nurse called the patient’s home to check on her and spoke with her mother. The nurse didn’t mention the abortion but shared enough information for the mother to surmise what occurred.

Judges acknowledged that the breach didn’t appear intentional but found enough evidence that the facility’s conduct could be considered grossly negligent — a standard sufficient to warrant punitive damages.

“There was no justification whatsoever offered for the remarkably casual way in which the center handled the plaintiff’s sensitive medical information, and the need to deter other medical providers from engaging in similar conduct could hardly be clearer,” the Sept. 25 opinion states.

The conduct was evidently violative of state law relating to medical privacy.  The court ordered a new trial because the defendant was not permitted to argue that the incident was an isolated event, which would be relevant to determining the punitive damages amount.

–BC