Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center, through their website “communitymedical.org”, allowed Meta, formerly known as Facebook, access to users’ sensitive medical information. For a medical provider, ensuring privacy is both an essential pillar of the organization’s responsibilities and a legal mandate.
Fresno Community Hospital breached their duty to protect their patients’ health information when they implemented Meta advertisement tracking on their website through Facebook Pixel, a Meta code analytics tool. Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center is a non-profit that is among the largest medical providers in its region.
The company claims to hold itself to a high ethical standard, with their website stating that “to better the lives of those we serve isn’t just our mission, it’s our calling.” Despite these claims, the company has continued to violate the trust of its patients, secretly harvesting their information through Meta and allowing the notoriously privacy-averse corporation to use this information however it might please.
Anyone in California who has a Facebook account and has used “communitymedical.org” to search for medical information, services, physicians, to schedule appointments, or to pay for medical services has suffered flagrant privacy violations. Our consumer class action lawsuit lawyers at Arias Sanguinetti are pursuing a lawsuit to see that Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center stops this illegal activity and compensates those whose information it has disclosed.
This activity represents an egregious violation of California privacy law, yet violations of this nature are alarmingly common. Contact our Fresno Community Hospital class action lawyers today if you have suffered similar damages and wish to pursue a lawsuit.
What Is Facebook/Meta Pixel?
Facebook Pixel is an enormously popular data analytics tool. There is a good chance that any average American internet user has had their information collected by it. Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that can be added to a website that is free to companies and creates comprehensive breakdowns of how each user that has a Facebook account and is navigating the website. This includes users’ search terms, popular pages, and product purchases.
It allows companies to track precisely which of their advertisements is working, and to gather groups of users to target with advertisements that are relevant to the specific web pages they are visiting.
Facebook Pixel is designed to be invisible to users, allowing companies to extensively monitor them without their knowledge. While this may serve many companies well, it is deeply misguided for a medical organization to use it.
Meta has built a reputation for callous disregard for personal privacy. Why Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center thought funneling sensitive information to Meta would be legal is a mystery, but they will now likely have to reimburse their many users for this violation. Several medical organizations use Facebook Pixel on their websites – if you have suffered damages as a result of illegal data collection, contact us today.
What Law did Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center break?
California law requires a legal standard for privacy for medical organizations, requiring patient consent for even the most basic information sharing. Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center violated multiple laws through its use of Facebook/Meta Pixel, including:
- California Invasion of Privacy Act. This bill prohibits companies from aiding third parties to read the contents of any communications sent within California without the consent of all parties. It dictates $5,000 payments for each disclosure.
- Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. This bill prohibits healthcare providers from intentionally sharing, selling, or using (for marketing or otherwise) the medical information of patients, enrollees, or subscribers for any purpose not necessary to providing healthcare services, unless authorized by the patient, enrollee, or subscriber.
By denying users of “communitymedical.org” the opportunity to understand the way that the company would use their data, Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center were in clear violation of these laws. Websites across the state violate the California Invasion of Privacy Act every day – if you believe that your privacy rights have been violated in this manner, contact our Fresno Community Hospital class action lawyers today.
What Is a Class Action Lawsuit?
When pursuing legal action in an instance where a large group of people suffered the same damages from the same cause, a class action lawsuit is commonly the best course of action. This type of lawsuit allows each violation to be litigated at once – a judge groups all those who have suffered the same damages in a group referred to as a “class”. Any compensation that results from a class action lawsuit is divided amongst class members.
A class action lawsuit can be an extremely productive way of pursuing justice for thousands or millions of people at a time. If you have suffered similar damages to the patients of Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center, contact us today.
