Walker, et al. v. Boston Medical Center Corp., et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-081-17)
1 COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL ACTION 2015-01733-BLS1 KAMYRA WALKER and another,1 1 Anne O’ Rourke 2 MDF Transcription, LLC and Richard J. Fagan. on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated vs. BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORP. and others 2 MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORP.’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT In March 2014, defendant Boston Medical Center, Corp. (BMC) learned that another health care provider had inadvertently accessed a BMC patient’s medical information on a website maintained by defendant MDF Transcriptions, LLC (MDF), a medical transcription company used by both BMC and thisother provider. It sent a letter to all its patients who had records that had been transcribed by MDF informingthem that there might have been unauthorized access to their medical information. After receiving this letter, the plaintiffs Kamyra Walker and Anne O’Rourke,filedthisputative classaction against BMC, MDF, and Richard Fagan, MDF’s owner and manager. They assertthat the defendants are liableto them, and all other similarly situated BMC patients,for failing to ensure that their medical information was kept confidential. The case is before the court on BMC’smotionfor summary judgment. BMCargues, among other things, that the plaintiffs lack standing to maintain the claims asserted2 against it.3 For the reasons that follow, the motion isALLOWED. 3 BMC also argues that the complaint fails to state a claim on which relief may be granted. Having found that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring their claims, the court does not reach this issue. 4 “FTP, or file transfer protocol, is a protocol for exchanging files over any computer network that supports the TCP/IP protocol (such as the Internet or an intranet). SRI Int’l Inc. v. Internet Sec. Sys., 647 F. Supp. 2d 323, 332 n.2 (D. Del. 2009). 5 Plaintiffs note that JosephCumillus, BMC’s 30(b)(6) deponent, stated in his deposition: “it was concerning to me that this information was on an FTP site that wasn’t password protected.” The court understands this to refer BACKGROUND For several years, certain BMC medical practices used MDF to transcribe their physicians’ audio recordedpatientnotes. The transcriptions were available through a “file transfer protocol” (FTP or .ftp) site maintained by MDF.4 On March 4, 2014, Pam Bronson of Access Sports Medicine(ASM), anotherMDF customer, telephoned BMC. She informed BMC that she saw a BMC transcription record when she accessed MDF’s transcription portalusing her ASM user name and password. In response, BMC contacted MDF,and MDF took down the FTP site. Shortly thereafter, BMC terminated its relationship with MDF and notified patients, including the plaintiffs, of what had occurred. The notification letter sent to the plaintiffs informed them that their patient records from office visits with physicians “were inadvertently made accessible to […]