News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday, June 22, in a suit filed by an Indianapolis woman against Community Health Network.

Zakiyyah Darden’s diagnosis was sent to the wrong person and that person posted the information on Facebook.

The court’s decision could set new standards on liability in medical privacy matters.

She is accusing the hospital of breach of duty, distributing private health information to unauthorized persons and negligence in training and supervising employees.

In her suit, Darden claims that public disclosure of her medical information has caused turmoil in her life. Her fiancé broke off their engagement after learning about her diagnosis, kicked her out of his house, co-workers and supervisors at her job have made comments causing her to leave her job and as a hairdresser she has lost several clients.

The case has has advanced through the state’s court system for three years. Damages worth potentially millions are at stake along with scrutiny of how health providers protect patient information.

The legal issues are complex, but the facts are not. Darden underwent an exam and medical testing in the ER at Community Hospital East on Sept. 30, 2018. The reason has not be disclosed.

Afterward, workers at the hospital attempted to contact Darden by phone to give her the results, but were unsuccessful. Five days later, the emergency department’s patient resource coordinator wrote a letter on company letterhead, that included her diagnosis and suggested treatment.

The letter was reportedly placed in an envelope, but addressed to a third party, a Warren Central High School student and classmate of Darden’s daughter.

The teenager opened the letter and posted the letter’s image on Facebook with Darden’s name clearly visible. Multiple people, including Darden’s daughter saw the post. It was through her daughter that Darden learned of her diagnosis and paid the student $100 to obtain the letter, which was removed from Facebook.

It was in January 2020 Darden filed a complaint against Community Health alleging its employee distributed sensitive and private health information to an unauthorized person and the general public and as a result suffered extensive injuries.

Stating she suffered mental, psychological and emotional issues after the instance and her children were made fun of at school, she sought damages for lost of privacy, lost of income, rent expenses and emotional and mental distress.

A motion to dismiss was filed by Community Health, but was denied. It then filed a motion for summary judgement, without a trial. The hospital maintained it wasn’t liable for her injuries, that it was the teenager, not the hospital that caused the injuries. It also added there was no evidence the employee acted outside her duties and that Darden could not recover emotional-distress damages under the negligence argument and any claim for public disclosure of private facts was invalid as it was not recognized under state law.

The motion for summary judgement was granted on March 22, 2002 by Marion Superior Judge Marc T. Roghenberg. He found because Darden did not suffer a physical injury but only mental or emotional distress, the hospital was not liable for negligence and that there was no evidence the hospital expected the letter to be widely share on social media and not the proximate cause of Darden’s damage.

The case was then appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals. A 46-page motion was filed by Darden’s attorney. Shortly after the filing of the appeal, the state’s Supreme Court issued a ruling in a separate case involving Community Hospital. That case found the hospital was not liable when a former employee compromised confidential health records of former patients and another former employee in a family feud.

The appeals court took note of that ruling and ruled last fall that Darden may not recover emotional-distress damages for neglect and upheld the trial court’s ruling. But it did rule she was entitled to a trail on her claims for monetary damages resulting from the hospital’s alleged negligence.

Several organizations urged the Supreme Court not to take the case. This included The Defense Trial Counsel of Indiana, and the not-for-profit Indiana Legal Foundation. However, on May 4, the Supreme Court agreed to take the case.