A patient who sued the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics for allegedly sharing medical information with Facebook might seek to settle after a judge threw out the case, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported Nov. 14.
Eileen Yeisley filed a lawsuit against the Iowa City-based system in April alleging two sets of code on their websites tracked the online activity of visitors and shared that information with Facebook. The social media company then linked that activity to their personal accounts and sold the information to third-party marketers to tailor ads to their medical issues.
The University of Iowa Health Care system released a statement that said, "University of Iowa Health Care is committed to protecting patient privacy. We do not share protected health information of our patients with Meta or Facebook."
On Oct. 18, a judge granted the system's motion to dismiss the case but allowed for an amended complaint to be submitted within 14 days. The plaintiffs have requested a deadline and are reportedly entering settlement negotiations.