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Lawsuit alleges that hospice released private information

Hospice of the Florida Suncoast denies publishing Social Security and home phone numbers of its clients.

LARGO - A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast violated state law by intentionally releasing medical and personal information about thousands of patients and their next of kin.

The lawsuit was filed in Pinellas-Pasco circuit court by Jonathan Alpert, the attorney who filed a suit in February accusing the non-profit hospice of diverting charitable donations to its for-profit software company.

The new suit claims the hospice released the patient information over the last several years as its for-profit subsidiary, Hospice Systems Inc., marketed a software product to other hospices around the nation.

Alpert said that Hospice used patient information to help demonstrate, market, sell and train people to use the software, which helps Hospice and its employees track patients and their medical needs.

Some of the information was put on the Internet and is still available there, he said.

"They've released names, diagnoses, Social Security numbers," Alpert said. "And instead of fixing the problem, they're trying to cover it up. It's becoming Hospice-gate. It's sad and unfortunate."

Hospice spokesman Michael L. Bell said hospice works hard to protect patient information.

"The one thing I would stress," he said, "is confidentiality of patient and family information is now and has always been a basic value of hospice. In response to this ongoing legal action, we've gone to even greater lengths to assure that our systems and procedures safeguard the privacy of those we serve."

Asked if patient information has even been released to those not authorized to see it, Bell declined to respond, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.

One of the four people named in the suit is Norma Jean Cain, who is the aunt of Fluffy Cazalas, a former Hospice employee and a plaintiff in the first class-action suit. Cain's husband was a hospice patient and says personal information was released on the Internet.

That information included her address, a description of her husband's illness, Social Security numbers and home phone listing.

"I live alone and it upset me," said Cain, whose husband died of cancer in 1997. "I don't think people should have that information and be able to latch onto it and maybe do things with your credit or whatever."