Hospitals Sued for Using Meta's Ad-Tracking Code, Violating HIPAA
Lawsuits say hospitals using Meta Pixel code violated patient privacy — sharing conditions, medications, and more with Facebook.
![Stethoscope placed on a keyboard whose Enter key has been labeled HIPAA Stethoscope placed on a keyboard whose Enter key has been labeled HIPAA](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt6d90778a997de1cd/bltaf635a0b4022e004/64f156c2b0cab397585b2b7b/HIPAA_Penchan_Pumila_Alamy.jpg?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=95&format=jpg&disable=upscale)
Two hospital networks in Louisiana are being hauled to court in a pair of class-action lawsuits that accuses the hospitals of deploying Meta Pixel ad-tracker code and sharing sensitive medical data with Facebook in violation of the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
LCMC Health Systems and Willis-Knighton Health Systems are being accused of deploying the Meta Pixel code on their sites, which shared information with Facebook — including medical conditions, prescriptions, doctors' names, and prior appointment history — so patients could be targeted for advertising, according to the law firm behind the action, Herman Herman & Katz.
"We are learning more and more about this shocking breach of trust as our investigation continues," Herman Herman & Katz partner Stephen Herman said in a statement about the data privacy lawsuits. "This was a gross invasion of privacy that went on for years."
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