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Blog sued by hospital
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published June 20, 2007
Essent Healthcare, parent company of Paris Regional Medical Center has filed a lawsuit in Lamar County’s 62nd District Court against unknown “bloggers,” contending a blog — http://the-paris-site.blogspot.com — has defamed the hospital and that bloggers are breaking the law in releasing patient confidential information.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, asks the court to order SuddenLink Communications Inc., a local cable Internet provider, to disclose the identity and mailing address of the bloggers.
It also asks for damages in an amount sufficient to compensate the hospital for its injuries and losses resulting from the defamation and business disparagement by the bloggers, and punitive damages for the “willful, malicious and reckless attacks” on the hospital’s reputation, goodwill and business opportunities.
Shortly after receiving the lawsuit Tuesday, Presiding Judge Scott McDowell of 62nd District Court issued an order granting plaintiff’s motion to disclosure information, ordering SuddenLink to disclose the identity and any known mailing address of its Internet services subscriber.
McDowell gave Suddenlink 20 calendar days to comply with the order.
“It is our duty as a healthcare entity and our obligation to the community to protect our patients’ rights to privacy,” said Kim Fox, a spokesperson for Essent. “We are morally and legally compelled to do everything we can to stop these violations.”
PRMC contends on several occasions, a blogger published “false and misleading statements with malice, with a reckless disregard for truth or falsity and with negligence in failing to ascertain the truth of the statements.”
In its suit, the hospital said the blogger falsely accused the hospital of criminal wrongdoing in the operation and management of the hospital, including but not limited to Medicare fraud.
The hospital said the blogger’s statements were designed to and did harm to the plaintiff’s reputation and lowered the hospital in the estimation of the community and the medical services market and discouraged people from associating and dealing with the hospital.
The hospital said the blogger or bloggers claimed their information was coming from hospital employees, a contractual breach of the employee labor confidentiality agreement.
The hospital said one of the bloggers’ statements issued on or about Feb. 13, under the alias of Frank Pasquale said: “Apparently Medicare fraud is in the air, and PRMC is looking for a scapegoat. Billing practices from the rehabilitation unit are suspect, as well as vascular ultrasound studies billed by the hospital, but done by unregistered technologists.”
Another statement attributed to the blogger said: “This isn’t Nashville or Boston or Dallas or Austin. It is a community that you wounded and are sucking out the life’s blood. We don’t like your style of vampires.”
The blogger also is alleged to have said: “Until Essent takes a reversal in direction, or just sells us, I’m going to burrow through their garbage and show it to the world.”
The hospital lawsuit said the bloggers’ comments are seen throughout the United States and worldwide, and a potential customer or patient of the hospital who uses Internet resources to search for medical health care might be directed to the blog.
It contends someone using a search engine for the terms related to PRMC is provided with a direct web-link to the blog in the list of top 10 results.
The hospital contends the blogger’s alias and “assumed perona” of Frank Pasquale is apparently intended to mislead readers of the blog to think the blogger is Frank Pasquale, associate professor of law at Seton Hall Law School.
That Frank Pasquale is a regular contributor to several blogs, but denies any affiliation to the blog or the blogger and was unaware the blogger had appropriated his identity until it was brought to his attention by the hospital.
The hospital said the blogger began his Web site in March of 2005, and said individuals who disclose individually identifiable health information may be fined up to $50,000 and imprisoned up to a year and, if the offense is committed for personal gain or with malicious harm, the fine may be up to $250,000 and imprisonment may be up to 10 years.
The lawsuit was filed by Paris attorney Wes Tidwell.
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