WEST VIRGINIA RECORD

PRINCETON - A woman is suing Princeton Communication Hospital Association after she claims it breached its duty of confidentiality.

Princeton Community Hospital Association Inc. is doing business as Mercer Medical Group.

In Summer 2011, Wanda Lee learned that a physician with Mercer Medical Group could treat a medical condition from which she suffered, according to a complaint filed May 2 in Mercer Circuit Court. Lee claims she called MMG, spoke with a staff person and provided information about her medical history and her specific medical condition and was told to call back later because the physician she needed to see was ill at the time.

The plaintiff continued to call in an effort to schedule an appointment and in late July or early August 2011, during a gathering of family and friends, a family member approached Lee and asked if she was sick, according to the suit.

Lee claims she denied being ill and inquired as to what the family member meant, in which she was informed that someone named Ashley from MMG told her about her medical condition.

The defendant had a duty to hire employees who are competent and discreet and had a duty to adequately train its employees regarding the confidentiality of medical information entrusted to them and obtained from a prospective patient, according to the suit.

Lee claims the defendant's actions violated her right of privacy and caused her emotional harm.

As a direct and proximate result of the defendant's breach of duties, Lee has been permanently and irreparably harmed, according to the suit.

Lee is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Kathryn Reed Bayless of Bayless Law Firm PLLC.

Mercer Circuit Court case number: 14-C-341