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It's been three weeks since Ketering
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Health experienced a cyber attack
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causing a systemwide outage and
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challenges to patient care. I'm Kasha
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Hancock at Wright and Shalty where the
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law firm announced it's filed a class
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action lawsuit against the health care
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network. According to the law firm
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Wright and Shalty, Ketaring Health had
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more than 730,000 files stolen from more
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than 20,000 folders during the attack,
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including personal patient information
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like social security numbers, plus
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medical and financial information.
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Attorneys Michael Wright and Richard
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Shalty of Wright and Shalty say since
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then hundreds of people have called
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their office asking for legal
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representation as it has become harder
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for them to receive the care they need.
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They're being denied healthcare and the
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my chart their system they use to access
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their medical records. It's sending them
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out a waiver tell them to release all
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their legal claims so they can get
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access to their medical records so they
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could get medical care. Wright and
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Shalty say in addition to delays in
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patient care, the cyber attack could
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lead to decades of fraud and identity
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theft as some patients sensitive
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information is already on the dark web.
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While the health network did provide a
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website specific to cyber attack
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updates, Wright tells me Ketering Health
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failed to communicate with patients
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throughout this situation. For instance,
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have a client that left Ketaring and
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that Ketering has not picked up the
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phone. Ketering has not allowed the
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James access to this person's medical
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records and this is a cancer patient.
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The complaint also alleges Ketering
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Health failed to comply with industry
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standard cyber security practices and
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didn't take appropriate steps to protect
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patient data. I reached out to Ketering
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Health about this class action lawsuit.
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They told me, quote, "We do not comment
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on pending litigation." Now the law firm
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says Ketering Health needs to step up
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with a plan immediately because this is
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a life ordeath situation for those
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needing treatment. I would think the
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first step is to contact all those
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individuals that have been affected. But
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candidly, we believe that they don't
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know all the individuals have been
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affected because their medical records
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available. Schulty says they hope
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putting continued pressure on Ketering
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Health will ensure the health
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organization focuses on the future of
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patient care. He adds they'll continue
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to assist these patients and although
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it's a lot of work, they're ready to
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fight. We'll keep updating you on the
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class action lawsuit on air and online
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I'm Kasha Hancock reporting.
