This article explores some examples of the medical data breach compensation amount you could get should your personal data be compromised in a data breach. Learn about the different factors that could impact your data breach claim.
What is the average medical data breach compensation amount?
In this article, we will explain what a personal data breach is, and provide examples of personal data and special category data. Also, we will explain the legislation that sets out the steps that organisations must follow should they handle your personal data.
Following this, we will explain how a personal data breach could occur and explain more about how compensation for a medical data breach is calculated. We will also provide some guideline compensation brackets from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG).
To conclude this article, we investigate the option of funding legal representation through a No Win No Fee arrangement. To find out if a solicitor from our panel could help you with your claim, contact our advisors today by:
- Call us on 0333 241 2521
- Use the live chat feature
- Make a claim online
Choose A Section
- Guidance On The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount
- What Is A Medical Data Breach?
- Examples Of Medical Data Breaches
- What Is The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount That I Can Get?
- Defining No Win No Fee Agreements
- Further Information About The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount
Guidance On The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount
A personal data breach is a security incident, in which the availability, confidentiality, or integrity of your personal data is compromised. Generally, personal data is data that can identify you. However, your medical records reveal information surrounding your health and, as such, fall under a category of personal data known as special category data. We’ll go into more detail surrounding personal and special category data later in the article.
Two pieces of legislation sit together to govern data protection for UK residents. These are the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA). As well as holding data controllers and processors accountable for how they handle personal data, this legislation also sets out the criteria that your case must meet to claim. This includes:
- Being able to prove that the organisation did not comply with data protection legislation, thus causing the breach
- The breach included your personal data
- You must also prove that you were harmed, either financially or emotionally, as a result of the breach
You can discuss what factors will be considered in your medical data breach compensation amount with our advisors.
What Is A Medical Data Breach?
A data breach may include your personal data or your special category data. Personal data is information that could be used to identify you. This includes your name, date of birth, email address, home address and phone number. It could also include your credit score as well as other financial information, such as your tax information.
The legislation gives special category data additional protections. Medical data is given special category protections. Medical records aren’t the only place where your medical data may be stored. Disciplinary records from your employer may contain details of any medical conditions you may have.
As well as medical data, special category data includes:
- Your sexuality and gender
- Biometric and genetic information
- Trade union membership information
If a data controller or processor fails to comply with data protection legislation, this may result in a personal data breach. To learn more about medical data breaches, contact our advisors today.
Examples Of Medical Data Breaches
If you are seeking an estimate of your medical data breach compensation amount, you may wish to know what types of data breaches occur in healthcare. A data breach could be accidental, such as through human error, or it may be deliberate, such as through cybercrime.
For example, a personal data breach could occur if an organisation sends out a batch email, but fails to use the blind carbon copy (BCC) feature. This allows the recipients of the email to see each other’s email addresses.
Or similarly, an email containing personal data could be sent to the wrong email address, allowing unauthorised parties access to this data. For example, this email could contain medical records, prescription information, or appointment scheduling. For this reason, organisations must ensure that they keep their records up to date.
Free legal advice, including estimates of your potential medical data breach compensation amount, is available from our claims team.
Medical Data Breach Statistics
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is an independent authority that upholds data security legislation. One part of their role includes monitoring reported data security incident trends.
The most reported non-cyber security incidents in the health sector for the fourth quarter of the 2021/22 financial year include:
- Unauthorised access with 74 occurrences
- Personal data being posted/faxed to the wrong recipient occurred 71 times
- Emails being sent to the wrong person happened 57 times
- Paperwork was stolen or lost with 45 occurrences
What Is The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount That I Can Get?
Legal professionals value compensation for personal data breach claims on a case-by-case basis. This is because all cases are unique, and as such, there is no average payout for a personal data breach claim. However, in this section, we will explain what you could claim and provide some broad examples of what you could receive.
To claim for a mental health injury, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or general emotional distress, you can claim under non-material damage. This head of claim covers the psychological impacts of the breach.
The JCG is a document legal professionals use to help assign value to emotional suffering in data breach claims. In this document, injuries sit alongside guideline brackets for compensation. The table below contains figures from the latest edition, released in spring 2022.
| Emotional Injury | Severity Level | Potential Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| General mental injury | Severe (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | Significant problems in coping with day-to-day life and activities. At this severity, the prognosis is poor. |
| General mental injury | Moderately severe (b) | £19,070 to £54,830 | Severe difficulties in coping with daily life, but with a more positive prognosis than above. |
| General mental injury | Moderate (c) | £5,860 to £19,070 | A significant improvement in symptoms is seen by the time of trial. |
| General mental injury | Less severe (d) | £1,540 to £5,860 | Consideration is given to the length of symptoms and the impact on daily activities. |
| Stress disorder | Severe (a) | £59,860 to £100,670 | The claimant will not return to the same levels of function they had before the trauma. This impacts all areas of life and is permanent. |
| Stress disorder | Moderately severe (b) | £23,150 to £59,860 | Professional treatment may lead to some recovery, but the disability is expected to continue. |
| Stress disorder | Moderate (c) | £8,180 to £23,150 | Symptoms that are not disabling still continue, but for the most part, a recovery has largely occurred. |
| Stress disorder | Less severe (d) | £3,950 to £8,180 | Within two years, the claimant will make virtually a full recovery. |
Material Damage Definition
As part of your medical data breach compensation amount, you might be able to recover financial losses incurred due to the breach. For example, if cybercriminals steal money from your bank account or if there is damage to your credit score, you may be able to recoup these losses under material damage.
The Vidal-Hall and Others v. Google Inc. (2015) Court of Appeal claim set a precedent in claiming compensation for a personal data breach. Before this ruling, non-material damage claims had to come alongside material damage claims. However, now, it is possible to claim for non-material damage alone or in conjunction with material damage.
Speak to our team for a free estimate of your potential medical data breach compensation amount based on your circumstances.
Defining No Win No Fee Agreements
You may wish to hire a specialist data breach claim solicitor to help file your medical data protection breach claim. You could fund a legal professional specialising in healthcare data breach claims under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement.
A CFA means that there are no upfront or ongoing fees. A success fee is taken from the awards of a successful claim. This is a percentage of your award, with a legal cap. However, if your claim is not successful, you will not pay this fee.
Ask About The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount
Free legal advice is available from our claims team if your medical data has been breached. If your claim seems like it might be eligible, you could be passed onto our panel of specialist data breach solicitors, who may be able to offer their services through a CFA.
To get in touch or to get a free estimate of your potential medical data breach compensation amount:
- Call us on 0333 241 2521
- Use the live chat feature
- Make a claim online
Further Information About The Average Medical Data Breach Compensation Amount
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Writer Danielle Baker
Publisher Cat Heart
