Lawsuit alleges Geisinger Health System shares patient information with Facebook, Google
May 12—A Philadelphia law firm has filed a second class action lawsuit accusing an area health care provider of secretly sharing confidential patient information with Facebook, Google and other third parties.
Attorney George Bochetto of Bochetto & Lentz alleges Geisinger Health System embedded a tracing tool in its website that allows Facebook, Google and other companies to have real-time access to searches that patients perform, without their knowledge. The companies then use that information to target ads to patients relating to their medical condition, according to the lawsuit filed in Lackawanna County Court.
The complaint is similar to a lawsuit Bochetto and several other attorneys filed in county court in February against Commonwealth Health System, the corporate parent company of Moses Taylor Hospital and Regional Hospital of Scranton, both in Scranton, and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in Wilkes-Barre.
Bochetto voluntarily dismissed the Commonwealth Health lawsuit in March after the company filed a petition to transfer the case to federal court. Contacted Friday, Ryan Kirk, an attorney who was co-counsel with Bochetto on the suit, said he could not comment on why the case was withdrawn.
The Geisinger suit, filed on behalf of a Lackawanna County woman identified by the pseudonym "Jane Doe," joins a number of similar lawsuits filed against hospital systems nationwide that also allegedly use a tool known as a tracking pixel that Facebook's parent company, Meta, developed.
The alleged confidentiality breaches came to light in June, when the Markup, a nonprofit investigative news organization, reported it discovered 33 of 100 hospitals it tested nationwide embedded Meta's pixel on their websites.
The suit names Geisinger Health, which operates hospitals throughout Northeast Pennsylvania, including Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Twp. and Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre in Wilkes-Barre. Facebook and Google are not named as defendants.
In an email, Geisinger spokesman Matt Mattei said the hospital system does not comment on ongoing litigation. He assured patients that Geisinger takes patient privacy seriously and "will continue taking measures to ensure patients and members can safely and securely interact with Geisinger online."
According to the suit, the tracking device captures users' interactions with Geisinger's website, including searches they perform regarding medical conditions. That information is automatically relayed to Facebook and Google.
"Knowing what information a patient is reviewing on Geisinger's website can reveal deeply personal and private information," the suit says.
The suit notes the lead plaintiff has been a Geisinger patient for 10 years and also has a Facebook account. She conducted searches for back pain and asthma on Geisinger's website. Soon after, she started getting ads on her Facebook page for management of back pain.
"Plaintiff was dismayed when she learned that Geisinger's website had been capturing her personal health information and disclosing the information to Facebook and Google without her consent," the suit says.
The lawsuit seeks damages on four counts, including violation of wiretap laws, invasion of privacy and breach of confidentiality.
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