Why You Need a HIPAA Violation Lawyer to Sue a Minnesota Hospital for a HIPAA Violation

Hospitals hold the most private facts about your life, and usually at some of the most vulnerable times of your life. Every year, federal regulators log hundreds of large health data breaches on the federal breach portal, and those events expose the records of millions of patients. Many patients who live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and across Hennepin County have also been victim of HIPAA violations due to a snooping co-worker, an improper disclosure or a hacking incident. Suing a hospital sounds simple when they have made such a huge mistake such as permitting an unauthorized disclosure of millions of patient’s medical records, yet the path runs through state law rather than federal law when it comes to health record violations. A Minnesota HIPAA violation lawyer can tell you which claim actually belongs to you when you believe you need to sue a Minnesota hospital for a HIPAA violation.

Here at Kuhlman Law, we represent patients whose hospital records were opened, shared, or leaked without permission. Attorney Christopher Kuhlman focuses his practice on health record privacy violations and stands with patients rather than with hospitals or insurers. He has built claims against large health systems and small clinics alike, protecting the right of patients who have had their most private health information leaked to the world. Our law office explains what your file may be worth and what proof your case will need, allowing you to focus on your life while we focus on your case. 

We offer a free consultation and we will seek statutory damages under the Minnesota Health Records Act (MHRA), allowing you to protect your rights while also protecting your wallet. Call today at (612) 444-3374 to speak with a HIPAA violation lawyer.

What It Really Means to Sue a Hospital Over HIPAA

Most patients assume that HIPAA gives them a right to sue, yet it does not. The federal law lets regulators and enforcement agencies act, and any fine they collect goes to the government. Minnesota fills that gap with a state health records law of its own. Known as the Minnesota Health Records Act (MHRA), this law lets you hold a healthcare provider such as a hospital liable for certain damages related to your improper disclosure. It also lets you possibly put money in your pocket when the federal HIPAA scheme does not.

How a HIPAA Violation Lawyer Uses the Minnesota Health Records Act

The Minnesota Health Records Act runs from section 144.291 through section 144.298 of Minnesota Statutes, outlining the obligations of healthcare providers, defining what constitutes protected health record information, and establishing remedies for victims and their families who are impacted by an improper disclosure. 

Notably, MHRA requires a provider to obtain your written consent before releasing your health record to anyone. It also creates a private remedy, which means you may take the hospital to court yourself when the provider has failed to obtain your consent in most circumstances (i.e., but not something such as an emergency). That single feature is why a HIPAA violation lawyer files under state law and can recover compensation for you.

Section 144.298 spells out who becomes liable, what a patient may collect, and the conduct that creates a claim, including the following:

• Negligent or intentional release of a health record without valid consent
• Intentional and unauthorized access to a patient file
• Forging a signature on a consent form or altering the form of another person
• Improper access through a record locator or patient information service
• Release by a health information exchange that ignores the statute, and
• Other careless, reckless, and negligent actions that may impair your rights as a patient in Minnesota.

Common Ways a Minneapolis Hospital Violates Your Privacy

Hospital breaches rarely look like the headlines, and most begin with one employee and one screen. Others begin with a mailing error, a stolen laptop, or a careless conversation, including leaving a voicemail with your health information or results on a wrong number, alternate contact, or a location where you did not give consent to do that. Our HIPAA violation lawyer sees the same handful of patterns year after year and can sue a Minnesota hospital for a HIPAA violation under MHRA when it is necessary to protect your rights.

Some of the most common types of cases that we may handle on your behalf include the following:

• A nurse or aide who opened a chart with no treatment reason
• A coworker who snooped on a neighbor, a relative, or a former partner
• Records faxed, mailed, or emailed to the wrong recipient
• Discharge paperwork handed to the wrong patient at the front desk
• Hospital systems breached by hackers who then sold the files
• Staff who discussed a diagnosis loudly enough for visitors to hear
• Ex-wives or ex-husbands who improperly access your health information
• Ex-boyfriends or girlfriends who snoop in your email addresses that they still have access to, or as your medical record backup
• Employers who improperly use your medical records or store them, and
• Any other situation where a healthcare provider mistakenly or intentionally disclosed your protected health information to another person without your prior, written consent.

What a HIPAA Violation Lawyer Must Prove To Successfully Sue a Minnesota Hospital for a HIPAA Violation

A claim is not won by outrage alone – although it is understandable to be completely distraught and unsettled by the gravity of this erroneous disclosure. Your case has to connect a rule, a breach of that rule, and real harm to you in order to be able to recover compensation under Minnesota law. Each piece leaves a trail somewhere inside the hospital system.

A HIPAA violation lawyer builds the record around a few core questions, including the following:

• Who opened or released the file, and on what date
• Whether that person had any treatment, payment, or operations reason
• Whether you signed a valid consent that actually covered the release
• What the hospital did once it learned about the problem
• What the exposure cost you in money, in health, and in standing, and
• Other relevant grounds to being a Minnesota HIPAA violation case under MHRA.

Damages You Can Recover From a Minnesota Hospital

The statute allows compensatory damages, costs, and reasonable attorney fees. That fee provision matters, because it lets an ordinary patient face a large health system on fair footing and without adding insult to injury – meaning not having their private records disclosed unlawfully and then having to pay legal fees to enforce their rights. Many clients ask us early whether a breach is worth money, and the honest answer depends on proof and circumstances of the disclosure. Since this must be undertaken on a case-by-case basis, it is hard to value a case or provide a rubric of how cases could be valued. That is why Kuhlman Law offers free consultations for victims and their families who may need to sue a Minnesota hospital for a HIPAA violation under MHRA.

How Long You Have to Sue a Minnesota Hospital?

Deadlines end cases that would otherwise win, which is known as a procedural hurdle to your case. Minnesota applies a statute of limitations period to health record claims, and the clock usually starts when the violation happens. However, there are many factors that can impact this time limit – including shrinking the time period. Thus, it is imperative that a victim of an unlawful health record disclosure should contact our HIPAA violation lawyer who can tell you when your deadline may be and how to protect your rights before it expires.

Steps to Take Before You Call a HIPAA Violation Lawyer

Small acts of preservation often decide these cases, and you do not need to build the case yourself. You only need to keep what already exists and write down what you learn.

Take these steps as soon as you suspect a problem, including the following:

• Save the breach notification letter and the envelope it arrived in
• Write down who told you, what they knew, and when you learned it
• Ask the hospital in writing for an accounting of disclosures
• Request a full copy of your record through the patient portal
• Watch your credit and report any suspicious account activity
• Avoid confronting the employee who may have looked at your chart, and
• Contact a Minnesota HIPAA violation lawyer in Minneapolis like Chris Kuhlman as soon as you can.

How Our HIPAA Violation Lawyer Handles a Case Against a Health System in Minnesota

We start by pulling the access history that a hospital keeps for every chart, which is possible through a chart audit process. Those logs show each user, each screen, and each timestamp for whatever action was taken on your chart, creating a breadcrumb trail to trace backwards. We compare that trail against your treatment history to find entries that no clinical reason explains, which therefore could be violations right there. 

Clients who want the background of the law first often read our guide on what the MHRA covers before we meet. From there we value the harm and send a demand to the hospital or its insurer, hoping to stop the damage of the improper disclosure from spreading as well as recovering compensation quickly for our clients. Many claims settle without the need to commence a lawsuit, though a health system that refuses fair terms will have to meet us in court. That’s because we prepare every case to go to trial and do not take shortcuts, ensuring that negligent defendants face the ramifications for their unlawful acts. 

Speak With a HIPAA Violation Lawyer at Kuhlman Law Today

A hospital that mishandles your record should answer for it. Federal law alone will not hand you a check, yet Minnesota law gives you a real path into court. Attorney Christopher Kuhlman represents patients in Minneapolis and throughout Minnesota, never hospitals and never insurers. If you need to sue a Minnesota hospital for a HIPAA violation, call our law firm today.

Kuhlman Law offers a free consultation and will seek statutory attorney fees, therefore making the negligent healthcare provider pay your damages and our attorney fees to collect them. Contact our Minnesota HIPAA violation lawyer by dialing (612) 444-3374 or using our “contact us box” to learn what your case may be worth and how we can protect your rights to compensation under MHRA.