COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – A February at Kootenai Health is causing potential legal issues for the company.
According to Kootenai Health, an investigation into the early 2024 data breach found that an unknown person may have accessed sensitive patient files without permission.
“To date, Kootenai Health is not aware of any attempt to misuse any of the information potentially involved in this incident,” the organization said in an Aug. 12 press release.
Despite Kootenai Health saying that the data breach never resulted in the nefarious use of any of the information, Idaho woman Sonna Griffiths is pressing a federal class action complaint arguing that the hospital system failed to keep her information safe.
“Data breaches have become entirely too common, and the reason is the lack of attention and resources that companies like [Kootenai Health] expend on protecting sensitive information,” an April court filing claimed.
Griffiths’ legal team went on to assert that those whose data was involved in the February data breach are at continued risk for data breaches regardless of whether the information truly fell into the wrong hands.
“Plaintiff and Class Members must now closely monitor their financial accounts to guard against future identity theft and fraud,” the filing said.
As of Aug. 28, the case is still in the midst of technical and administrative disagreements in the US District Court of Idaho. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 19.
