as hackers claim they’ve sold sensitive personal information about roughly 270,000 southwestern ontario hospital patients, the agencies targeted in the massive cyberattack now face a $480-million lawsuit.
the class action suit, launched by a patient of sarnia’s bluewater health, claims patients affected by the breach lost their right to privacy, suffered “injury to dignity,” and are enduring “serious and prolonged mental distress,” among other damages.
lawyer mireille dahab with dahab law, the richmond hill firm handling the class action, said this is a case about “negligence.”
“this is highly sensitive information that has been leaked for many thousands of ontarians,” dahab told the windsor star. “now you’ve got people’s personal, very, very sensitive information out on the dark web.
“and who knows how long this will continue to affect their lives and their credit? i think that is really the issue here.
“you’re not just dealing with name and address and phone number. you’re dealing with everything. health card, your illnesses, your medication, a lot of information that should not be leaked to other people.”
a group called daixin team has claimed responsibility for the ransomware attack, first detected oct. 23, against bluewater health, chatham-kent health alliance, erie shores healthcare, hôtel-dieu grace healthcare, and windsor regional hospital.