Froedtert agrees to $2 million settlement, admits no liability and denies all allegations

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Froedtert Hospital has agreed to pay $2 million in an order granting unopposed motion class action suit, despite the health care system’s denial of all allegations in the Plaintiff’s complaint, as well as denial of all liability in this case, according to Chicago Attorney David Almeida, who represents the 459,000 class members.

“The Parties, through their counsel, have entered into a Settlement Agreement following good faith, arm’s-length negotiations and a mediation overseen by Hon. Stuart E. Palmer (Ret.),” court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal said.

According to the court documents, “Froedtert’s alleged use of certain tracking technologies including the Meta (a/k/a Facebook) Pixel on its MyChart portal between February 1, 2017 to January 22, 2020, and on its public websites between February 1, 2017 to May 23, 2022 (the “Website Usage Disclosure”) during which Plaintiffs allege their web usage data, containing personal health information, was shared to Facebook allegedly resulting in the invasion of Plaintiffs’ and Settlement Class Members’ privacy.”

During an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal, Almeida said, “if the judge grants final approval, then checks will be issued to the class members.”

The final approval hearing, during which the judge will consider whether to approve the settlement, is scheduled for September 29, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

For the past 22 years, Almeida worked as a defense attorney and often defended hospital systems and other healthcare entities in class action litigation; in recent months, he switched to plaintiff’s work. According to Almeida, while some healthcare systems have stopped using these tracking technologies to share protected health information with Facebook, many others continue to do so.

The Wisconsin Law Journal also reported in July that the death of woman discharged from Froedtert ER highlights gap in medical malpractice laws.