Lawsuit accuses WakeMed of collecting patient data and sending it to Facebook for marketing

A lawsuit has been filed against WakeMed, claiming the hospital system gave sensitive patient information to Facebook for advertising purposes and financial gain.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a former patient, alleges that WakeMed transmitted nearly 500,000 of its patients' personal health information to Facebook without the patients' consent.

Facebook is facing a similar lawsuit connected to the tracking tool Meta Pixel.

According to Facebook, the Meta pixel is "a snippet of JavaScript code that allows you to track visitor activity on your website," and is used for people who decide to advertise on Facebook.

Advertisers use Meta Pixel to track how effective their ad is and how many people their ads reach.

The lawsuit filed in Wake County Superior Court this week by attorneys Gary Jackson and Tom Wilmoth alleges this tool collects identifying information about patients, like their names, email addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers, medical information and sends it to Facebook.

The tool was present on both WakeMed's website and their patient portal, the suit alleges. WakeMed said they stopped using Meta Pixel in May.

The lawsuit alleges that this tool is in use because of the financial benefits WakeMed receives when selling its patients' data and using it for marketing.

WakeMed's policies state that it will not sell patient data or use it in marketing without written consent from the patient, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims that WakeMed violated FTC rules and the federal law protecting patient privacy data known as HIPAA.

"WakeMed is not just a 'company,' but a medical provider and therefore has heightened duties of care to its patients," the lawsuit says.