Nude photos of Beverly Hills plastic surgery patients exposed in data hacks, lawsuit alleges - Dr. Jaime Schwartz

[swidup]

https://www.union-bulletin.com/news/national/nude-photos-of-beverly-hills-plastic-surgery-patients-exposed-in-data-hacks-lawsuit-alleges/article_5e9f7588-b296-59d4-834e-ba74ee49f99e.html

"A celebrity Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, who has appeared on television shows including "Botched" and "The Doctors," is being sued by patients who allege that their nude photos were published online after he was hacked — twice — and that he waited months to inform them of the data breaches.

Eight patients filed a class-action lawsuit earlier this month alleging that Dr. Jaime Schwartz had failed to maintain adequate cybersecurity despite multiple warnings, resulting in highly sensitive information being stolen and posted online.

Schwartz's office did not respond to a request for comment this week.

The hacked data allegedly included patients' names, phone numbers and home addresses, as well as their driver's license, insurance, credit card and medical information, according to the complaint. Also hacked were photos and videos of patients nude and partially clothed, including images of them undergoing surgery while under anesthesia, the lawsuit alleges.

Schwartz allegedly failed to notify patients of either the initial September 2023 hack or a subsequent one in March 2024 in a timely or appropriate manner, or to address security weaknesses in between the incidents, the lawsuit states.

According to the complaint, he only informed patients this January, after some of them found information about the breaches online. The lawsuit alleges he did not provide required notice to the California attorney general's office or the state Health and Human Services Agency.

"Despite knowing that his patients' most private medical data was in the hands of malicious actors, Dr. Schwartz waited almost 10 months to notify them," the complaint states. "Finally, after their nude photos and home addresses began being posted online — accessible to anyone with an internet connection — Dr. Schwartz issued a cursory, vague, and misleading data breach notice."

The lawsuit alleges that the hacks left patients vulnerable to identity theft and caused them severe emotional distress due to the "humiliation, shock, worry and anxiety" of knowing their information and photos could be, or had already been, posted online.

The compensatory and punitive damages that plaintiffs are seeking will likely be in the "tens of millions of dollars," said their attorney, Damion Robinson."

Code as separate incidents.