Lawsuit Over 2020 Mayo Clinic Data Breach ‘Resolved’
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - It appears a settlement has been reached in at least one of the lawsuits that were filed against Mayo Clinic after it disclosed a significant data breach two years ago.
Olmsted County Court records indicate the class action lawsuit filed by Amanda Bloxton-Kippoloa and Chelsea Turner has been dismissed at the request of the Mayo Clinic and the plaintiffs. The attorney representing the two women would only say the "matter has been resolved."
The lawsuit was filed in October 2020, shortly after Mayo Clinic revealed a former employee had improperly accessed the medical records of more than 1600 patients. In announcing the data breach, Mayo stated that the former employee may have viewed information about the names of patients, demographic information, date of birth, medical record numbers, clinical notes, and images. The lawsuits filed against Mayo claim those images included nude photos taken for medical purposes.
They also identified the former Mayo Clinic employee responsible for the data breach as Ahmad Alsughayer. The 30-year-old man now has a Michigan address and is facing a gross misdemeanor charge of unauthorized computer access.
At least two other personal injury lawsuits over the data breach remain open in Olmsted County Court. Both of the cases make similar claims as the resolved legal action and are currently scheduled to go to trial in September of next year.