Torrance Memorial Data-Sharing Lawsuit Returned to State Court

A proposed class action alleging Torrance Memorial Medical Center Inc. illegally disclosed patients’ protected health information to Facebook will be heard in state court rather than federal court.

Jane Doe alleged Torrance Memorial shared her protected health information with Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms Inc., despite promising it wouldn’t disclose patients’ information for marketing purposes without their written consent.

At issue in the lawsuit was Torrance’s alleged sharing of information collected through Torrance’s patient-portal website, which the hospital developed in response to an initiative of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services aimed at increasing the use of electronic ...