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MDPCE Files Suit To Protect Privacy Rights Of Military Families

By Jeremiah Frei-Pearson on

Yesterday, on behalf of millions of members of our armed services and their families, Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. filed suit against TRICARE, the United States Department of Defense and the Secretary of Defense.  The lawsuit, Gaffney v. Panetta was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.

TRICARE provides medical insurance to members of the military and their family.  As a result, TRICARE has highly confidential medical and personal records for millions of people who have bravely served our country, along with their spouses and children.  TRICARE is legally responsible for maintaining the privacy of these records.

 

Unfortunately, TRICARE disregarded its duty.  In blatant violation of federal law, TRICARE recklessly left improperly encrypted or unencrypted data in a car, which was taken by unknown parties last month.  The missing information includes names, Social Security Numbers, and highly confidential medical information for about 4.9 million people insured by TRICARE.  TRICARE has not yet contacted the people whose private information was disclosed.

 

The lawsuit filed by MDPCE seeks to reform TRICARE and the Department of Defense’s data protection policies so that members of the military and their families are never again victimized by such a privacy violation.  The lawsuit also seeks monetary damages and a Court Order requiring TRICARE to provide credit monitoring services to victims of the disclosure and to take all necessary steps to protect victims of the disclosure.

 

If you are a member of TRICARE, please contact us to discuss your legal options.

  • catherine

    hi i have tricare and have just recieved the second letter to my household from SAIC saying our info was stolen.i called tricare and basically was told it was a ,”precautionary meassure” that this person would have to have smarts to see our info.but now im seeing that the tapes were not even or very little protected aka encrypted what does all of this mean i am lost

  • D Baez

    I was not notified by SAIC until this past December (2011) that my PHI was stolen. They made it sound like the theives would not be able to access the information! I am not a member of Tricare, but I was a civilian employee and as such was required to have several medical tests, vaccinations, etc…performed according to the requirements of my hire. I’m furious this has happened. I have placed a “fraud alert” on my credit reports with the Big 3. What more can I do to protect myself? This is not the first time SAIC has had problems with PHI security.