CONFIDENTIALITY LAWSUIT Lawyers to distribute 508 plaintiffs' awards

Most of those who sued will get about $500.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- There are two settlements totaling $490,000 in the 101/2 -year-old case involving a breach of confidentiality through the release of medical records by the former Warren General Hospital.
Lawyers for the 508 members of the class-action suit received verbal approval Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to distribute the money to the plaintiffs. Checks could begin arriving as early as late January.
Among the amounts agreed upon is$25,000 to Cheryl Biddle of Niles, who brought the case on behalf of her late husband, Robert, one of the people whose records had been released.
"I'm satisfied," Biddle said. "It was a long haul. I think everybody's been vindicated. The most impact has been on the laws that have been changed."
About 30 other members of a subclass of the plaintiffs will receive between $750 and $1,500 each, based on having more embarrassing or damaging information released. The rest will receive about $500.
Dennis P. Zapka of McLaughlin & amp; McCaffrey of Cleveland, lawyer for the plaintiffs, will receive about $127,000 from the hospital -- one third of the settlement plus his expenses.
Visiting Judge Thomas Patrick Curran of Cuyahoga County, sitting by assignment from the Ohio Supreme Court, said he would accept the breakdown of payments.
Case set precedent
Zapka said the case set precedent by making it to the Ohio Supreme Court. "The briefing in this case was looked at on a national basis. I probably sent briefs to six or seven states," he said.
Zapka said the case precedes the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. He said he believes the case -- along with a host of other reasons -- led to HIPAA, a privacy law that bars release of confidential patient information to all but authorized caregivers or parties designated by the patient.
Biddle and another hospital client, Gary Ball, filed the case in 1995 against Warren General and the Austintown law firm of Elliott, Heller, Maas, Moro & amp; Magill. Humility of Mary Health Partners has since bought WGH to house St. Joseph Health Center. Ball has not been heard from for years, Biddle said.
A message left on the answering machine at the law firm's Austintown and Warren offices was not returned Friday.
What happened
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the hospital could be sued for breaching patient confidentiality for turning the records over to the law firm. Attorneys for the hospital and the law firm had argued that the confidentiality of patient information had not been violated. The state's high court ruled, however, that if the hospital is going to provide such information to a third party, it needs the written consent of its patients.
According to the complaint, the hospital hired the law firm in 1993 to determine which of its patients qualified for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits that would cover hospital bills. The hospital provided the firm with about 10,000 patient registration forms, which contained the patient's name, telephone number, age and admitting diagnosis. The law firm contacted qualified patients, informed them of the benefits, and then encouraged them to contact the Social Security Administration or call the firm with questions.
Biddle said a secretary at the law firm turned over records to a television reporter because she wanted people to know that the hospital had given the records to the law firm. The secretary thought that was unethical, Biddle said.
Settlement division
The law firm settled with those involved in the suit in late 2004, agreeing to pay $130,000. Zapka said that money will be added to the money from the hospital and included in one check to the plaintiffs. He delineated these sub-classes:
U Seven plaintiffs receive $1,000 each because their records revealed a diagnosis pertaining to substance abuse.
U Five should get $750 for information about their general psychiatric issues; four should get $1,500 for information about attempted suicides.
U Four should get $1,000 for information about pregnancy and sterilization in relation to their religious affiliation; seven should get $750 for issues involving pregnancy; one should get $1,500 for a "peculiar and specific" unnamed issue.
The hospital's lawyers, Keating, Keating and Kuzman, did not object to this dollar breakdown. Zapka said many of the people involved either didn't want to be a party to the lawsuit or have died.
Zapka said Biddle deserved the $25,000 for the case's "enormous benefit to society."
runyan@vindy.com