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Did you know that information from your medical record may be used to identify you as a potential plaintiff in a lawsuit?
Most people understand that their online searches, website visits and clicks can influence the ads they see. Far fewer realize that information from patient health records may also be used to identify people as potential claimants in mass tort cases.
Pending federal lawsuits accuse hospitals and companies involved in the exchange of health information of using patient records for commercial purposes, including identifying potential plaintiffs.
The possibility alone should concern every Pennsylvania patient.
Like most families, mine relies on doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and other health care providers. We share information with each other because it is necessary to receive care. We do not expect that information to help a legal marketer decide whether someone in our family might be a good candidate for a lawsuit advertisement.
We have all seen the ads: "Have you been diagnosed with this condition? You may be entitled to compensation."
These ads may use phrases such as "health alert," reference the Food and Drug Administration, show prescription bottles and emphasize frightening side effects. They often feature urgent warnings, alarming images and ominous music. But these messages are not created by a patient's doctor. They are designed to recruit clients.
Pennsylvanians are already exposed to an enormous volume of legal advertising. A report from the American Tort Reform Association shows that trial lawyers spend enormous sums of money in Pennsylvania to recruit new clients. In 2023 alone, it's estimated that nearly $162 million was spent on more than 1.4 million legal ads across Pennsylvania. These numbers are staggering and underscore just how aggressively Pennsylvanians are being targeted with misleading advertising.
Misleading legal ads can have real consequences. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than seven in ten adults take at least one prescription medication, and nearly half take three or more. For these patients, abrupt decisions to stop or alter treatment, prompted by a commercial, not a doctor, can lead to serious health complications, hospitalizations, or worse.
That is why the alleged use of health records for legal marketing is so concerning. It does not simply invade a patient's privacy. It may use private information to make misleading and potentially harmful ads even more persuasive.
Patients share their health information to receive care. They should not have to wonder whether that same information is being used to frighten them, influence their medical decisions or recruit them for litigation.
Your diagnosis should tell a doctor how to care for you. It should not tell a legal marketer how to find you.
Jennifer Riley is the statewide Executive Director of Patients Come First Pennsylvania and spearheads its mission of ensuring Pennsylvania's patients receive timely access to innovative health care. Readers can follow the effort on Facebook and X @PatientsFirstPA, and visit the website for more information at patientscomefirst.com.