At oral arguments Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court mulled whether a Chicago plaintiffs law firm’s press release announcing a $4.2 million jury award in a medical malpractice suit violated the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act by disclosing the details of its now-former client’s mental health diagnoses.
The Illinois high court is now set to decide whether the appellate court was correct in finding that attorney Elizabeth A. Kaveny and her former firm Burke Wise Morrissey & Kaveny violated the act by redisclosing information pertaining to the plaintiff, identified in the current matter as John Doe, that was protected by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).
