HOUSTON – A Houston woman alleges that a local cardiology center and one of its physicians compromised the confidentiality of her personal and health information, recent Harris County District Court records show.
Traci L. Putnam sued Houston Interventional Cardiology and Dr. Cyril Tawa in the Harris County 270th District Court on Dec. 1. Per Putnam, she is a patient at the North Cypress Medical Center, but is not under the care of the defendants though the three entities share the same building.
The complainant claims a HIC employee who lives in the same apartment complex as her accessed her medical records from NCMC and e-mailed her harassing messages. The employee purportedly used Putnam’s information to disparage her to their neighbors, as well as threateningly approached the plaintiff’s daughter.
NCMC, which is not a party in the case, conducted an investigation upon receiving Putnam’s complaint and determined that her records were accessed with login credentials belonging to the staff at HIC.
Following the investigation, NCMC informed the respondents of the breach in question and reported the matter to the Office of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
The suit further asserts that the defendants failed to properly assist Putnam after learning about the breach, stating that the complainant and her family have suffered severe emotional distress.
A jury trial is requested.
Attorney David J. Quan of The Law Office of David J. Quan in Houston is representing Putnam.
Harris County 270th District Court Case No. 2016-82838