Colon v. United States

320 F. Supp. 3d 733
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedMarch 13, 2018
DocketCase No.: GJH–17–775
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 320 F. Supp. 3d 733 (Colon v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colon v. United States, 320 F. Supp. 3d 733 (D. Md. 2018).

Opinion

GEORGE J. HAZEL, United States District Judge *736Plaintiff Claire Colon files suit against Defendants the United States of America ("United States"), the Department of Defense ("DOD"), Dr. David Kassop, and Dr. Steven Berkowitz, seeking $5,000,000 plus punitive damages, attorney's fees, and costs for the violation of various federal and state laws relating to the access and distribution of her confidential medical records. Specifically, Colon alleges the United States violated the Federal Tort Claims Act ("FTCA"), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq. ; DOD violated the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a ; and Kassop and Berkowitz violated the Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments, the Maryland Confidentiality of Medical Records Act ("MCMRA"), Md. Code Ann. Health Gen. § 4-301 et seq. , and committed a novel tort under Maryland law-the negligent access and disclosure of protected health information. Now pending are Defendants' motions to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). The parties have fully briefed the issues, and no oral argument is necessary. See Local Rules 105.6 (D. Md. 2016). For the reasons set forth below, the motions to dismiss of the United States, Kassop, and Berkowitz are granted, and DOD's motion to dismiss is denied.

I. BACKGROUND1

Claire Colon is a citizen and resident of Hawaii who joined the Army in May 2004. ECF No. 19 ¶¶ 1, 9. Kassop is a citizen and resident of North Carolina employed as a cardiologist by the Department of the Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and licensed to practice medicine in Maryland. Id. ¶ 2. Berkowitz is a citizen and resident of Maryland, employed as a psychologist by the Department of the Army at Fort Meade. Maryland and licensed to practice medicine in Maryland. Id. ¶ 3.

This dispute arises out of Kassop and Berkowitz's alleged access and distribution of Colon's protected health records. While deployed in Iraq in the mid-2000s. Colon was assaulted by three fellow soldiers. Id. ¶ 10. That trauma was compounded when Colon experienced post-partum depression following the pregnancies of her two oldest children in the late-2000s. Id. Eventually Colon sought professional help through the Army to address these mental health issues. Id. Ultimately, a medical diagnosis led Colon to medically retire from the Army as a Captain with an Honorable Discharge on April 22, 2014. Id. ¶ 11.

Colon engaged in an extramarital affair with Major Christian Wollenburg beginning in June 2009. Id. ¶ 12. As a result of the extramarital affair, Colon and Wollenburg had a daughter, who was born in Bethesda, Maryland on October 2, 2010. Id. ¶ 12. After their daughter was born, Colon and Wollenburg engaged in protracted litigation in the Domestic Relations Branch of the Family Court of the District of Columbia ("the Family Court"). Id. ¶ 14. The Family Court resolved a paternity suit in favor of Wollenburg on September 12, 2013. Id. Colon subsequently filed a custody complaint, which took more than two years to resolve. Id.

*737Colon alleges that in the midst of this custody dispute, in November 2013. Wollenburg contacted his close friend and former college roommate Kassop and asked Kassop to obtain Colon's confidential health information for him. Id. ¶ 16. She alleges that Wollenburg did so hoping that he might be able to use her mental health issues to win custody of their child. Id. At the time. Kassop was stationed at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Id. Colon alleges that Kassop complied with this request, accessing the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application ("AHLTA")-the electronic medical record system used by DOD and the Army-on November 22, 2013 at shortly after 6 p.m. Id. at ¶ 17. Colon alleges that Kassop accessed this information for at least forty-two minutes, during which time he was able to see all of Colon's private health information, including clinical notes, medications, laboratory results, and radiology records.

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Bluebook (online)
320 F. Supp. 3d 733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colon-v-united-states-mdd-2018.