Florida trial attorneys filed five lawsuits against health-care providers challenging a state law that imposes new restrictions on medical malpractice claims.
The attorneys allege that the law allows medical malpractice defendants to acquire personal health care information about a plaintiff from all health-care providers, in violation of the privacy rights established under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, according to the lawsuits.
The law will deter patients from filing medical malpractice lawsuits for fear personal information will be divulged, plaintiffs’ attorneys said. The lawsuits seek a judgment from the courts that the law violates patients’ rights and an injunction stopping enforcement of the measure, which went into effect today.
The new law authorizes contacts by potential defendants with the health-care providers before lawsuits are filed and “unlimited and unfettered release of personal health information to those defendants without the valid consent of claimants,” according to a complaint filed in federal court in Miami.
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Three of the suits were filed in federal court in Florida, and two were brought in state court.
Date: Jul 2, 2013