Court: Patients can’t file federal privacy suits against doctors

By: Amy Lynn Sorrel
December 25th, 2006
Physicians still can get sued in state court. The plaintiff attorney says that’s not enough.
The first federal appeals court decision to affirm that patients cannot sue under HIPAA offers some relief for physicians. But with patients still able to bring privacy claims in state court, the ruling does little to alleviate doctors’ concerns about the possibility of lawsuits for confidentiality breaches.