Gautier, Miss.-based Bienville Orthopaedic Specialists has been hit with a federal lawsuit following a patient data breach that compromised the personal information of 242,986 people, according to a Sept. 26 report from Law360.
The practice learned about the attack March 5 and notified its patients Sept. 1, according to an article submitted to JDSupra.
The case's lead plaintiff, Robert Harris, alleges that Bienville failed to protect patients' private information and data from potential hackers by not complying with federal guidelines and industry standards for cybersecurity.
Mr. Harris claims that when Bienville notified patients that their data was exposed on the dark web, it did not specify measures that would be taken to keep a leak from happening again.
The suit alleges that patients whose data was stolen have seen an increase in spam calls and emails.
Mr. Harris is seeking compensatory damages, payment for credit-monitoring services and an order for Bienville to improve data security.
Bienville did not respond to a request for comment from Law360, according to the report.