CMA amicus brief argues exorbitant 'nominal' damage puts patient care at risk June 27, 2013 General Legal Advocacy, Amicus Briefs 0 In June, the California Medical Association (CMA) filed an amicus curiae letter with the Court of Appeals in the case Regents of the University of California v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Platter). This case arises from the theft of a computer hard drive containing private, confidential information on approximately 16,000 patients. The plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the UC Regents failed to have proper safeguards in place to prevent the theft in violation of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA). The plaintiffs seek $1,000 for each of the 16,000 patients for a total of $16 million in “nominal” statutory damages. Despite the lack of any allegations of affirmative acts by the defendants to release or disclose confidential information or any actual harm suffered by the plaintiffs, the trial court held that plaintiffs could maintain a cause of action and seek nominal damages under the CMIA. CMA’s letter brief in support of UC Regents argued that the trial court’s ruling puts California physicians at risk for devastating lawsuits that can increase the cost of health care and ultimately create barriers to patient access to care. Such exorbitant damages can be disproportionate to the underlying violation by the defendants or the actual harm suffered by the plaintiffs and have a dire financial impact on health care providers, directly undermining the viability of their practice and their ability to provide medical care. The brief argued that CMIA’s provisions should be applied in a way that balances the protection of privacy of patient medical information without placing excessive burdens on health care providers. For a copy of the brief click here. Contact: Center for Legal Affairs at (800) 786-4262 or legalinfo@cmanet.org Comments are closed.
