Attorneys Carol Cowhey and Cynthia Brennan obtained judgment in favor of their Philadelphia-based Hospital client and dismissal of all claims. The Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed the trial court’s ruling in a non-precedential decision. Plaintiff alleged that the hospital was negligent based on a common law duty of care owed to her to protect her health information from improper dissemination. Plaintiff also alleged that the hospital was negligent in hiring and supervising its employees who allegedly mishandled her blood test results by sending them to a doctor she did not know and to whom she had not authorized receipt. A Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings was granted since there is no private cause of action for improper dissemination of protected health information under HIPAA and no other common law duty existed which could be imposed on the hospital, and the Plaintiff did not properly plead a negligent hiring and supervision claim which she contended was based on the Restatement Second of Torts § 317.
