Stanford Hospital & Clinics vows to fight $20M class action

Stanford Hospital & Clinics vowed Monday to "vigorously defend" itself against a $20-million class-action complaint filed in the wake of a data breach that saw the medical records of 20,000 patients posted on a commercial website for nearly a year. Shana Springer filed the complaint on Sept. 28 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, on behalf of fellow patients treated in Stanford's emergency room between March 1, 2009, and Aug. 31, 2009. She is seeking $1,000 per patient, as well as other penalties, damages and attorneys fees. The nine-page complaint alleges the hospital violated the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, a state law that requires medical providers to safeguard patient information and prohibits its disclosure without written consent.