Duke, WakeMed ask court to dismiss lawsuit over sending patient data to Facebook
Duke University Health System and WakeMed Health asked a federal court Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit that claims they violated a number of state and federal laws by sharing patient data with Facebook’s parent company, Meta.
This lawsuit, and others filed in the past several weeks, centers around the use of “Meta pixel” on the health systems’ websites. The pixel, marketed by Meta as a way for companies to track the effectiveness of targeted advertisements, allegedly sent sensitive patient data to the advertising giant.
“The Complaint rests entirely on barebones, conclusory allegations — not facts,” WakeMed said in its filing. “Indeed the Complaint appears to be nothing more than a hasty copy-and-paste job, mirroring similar lawsuits filed across the country.”
The two lead plantiffs, Kim Naugle and Afrika Williams, were patients of WakeMed and Duke respectively while the pixels were installed on the health care providers’ websites.
Duke argued in its filing that while the lawsuit said Williams used the Duke patient portal, it did not sufficiently explain what information she entered into the portal or how she was harmed by Meta allegedly receiving that information.
Duke denies sharing protected health information with Meta at all. A spokesperson for the health system said Duke investigated the use of the Meta pixel on its website and patient portal and determined that it did not transmit any of protected health information to Meta.
WakeMed argued that the lawsuit’s breach of contract claim does not hold up because it failed to say that Naugle was aware of its privacy policies.
The lawsuit, initially brought in September, largely focuses on Facebook’s role in the collection of health data.
“Of the Complaint’s 216 individually numbered paragraphs, WakeMed is referenced by name in only six,” WakeMed said in the filing.
WakeMed also filed a motion to separate the claims against WakeMed from those against Meta and Duke Health in order to merge the case with a similar class action lawsuit filed last month in a different federal district court.
Teddy Rosenbluth covers science and healthcare for The News & Observer in a position funded by Duke Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 10:12 AM.
