North Kansas City Hospital Deemed Not Immune From Privacy Suit

Patients of North Kansas City Hospital convinced a Missouri state appellate court to reverse a lower court’s conclusion that the healthcare provider was entitled to sovereign immunity from a consumer privacy complaint.

The plaintiffs alleged that despite the hospital’s privacy policy, it embedded Meta Platforms, Google, and Microsoft tracking tools on its website and patient portal that captured a variety of sensitive and personal health-care related information. The lower court had dismissed the case saying that NKCH’s website was a government function protected by sovereign immunity, and that it didn’t waive that shield by purchasing insurance covering the plaintiffs’ resultant ...