The Lister Fertility Clinic data breach is one of the most severe medical data leaks in recent years, exposing the highly sensitive ‘special category’ information of its patients.
What is special category data?
Under UK data protection laws, some types of information require extra security measures because of their highly sensitive nature. This data is classified as special category data. Organisations handling this data must ensure enhanced security measures and strict access controls to prevent unauthorised exposure.
Special category data includes:
- Ethnic or racial origin: Personal data revealing information about an individual’s race or ethnic background.
- Political opinions: Personal data revealing information about political party affiliations, campaign support, or voting history.
- Religious or philosophical beliefs: Personal data relating to an individual’s religious faith or personal convictions.
- Trade union membership: Details of union participation, which could be used for discrimination if exposed.
- Genetic data: Personal information about inherited conditions, DNA profiles, or genetic tests.
- Biometric data: This could be used to identify individuals, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, and retina scans.
- Health and medical records: Includes medical history, treatment details, test results, and prescriptions.
- Sexual orientation: Personal data revealing an individual’s sexual preferences or relationships.
- Sexual health: Details of fertility treatments, contraceptive use, STI testing, and reproductive health.
The Lister Fertility Clinic data breach exposed special category data, making the breach extremely serious. The exposed data could cause devastating consequences if misused.
The impact of the Lister Fertility Clinic data breach
This breach may have compromised private patient records, including:
- Fertility test results
- IVF treatment details
- Personal consent forms
- Scanned passports of patients and partners
For those affected, the leak of such deeply personal medical records is distressing and damaging. Patients deserve answers on why their sensitive information was not properly secured.
Who is responsible?
While Stor-a-File Limited was hacked, Lister Fertility Clinic remains responsible for protecting patient data. By law, the clinic must ensure third-party providers meet strict security standards – a duty lawyers claim it failed in this case.
Can you claim compensation for the Lister Fertility Clinic data breach?
If your fertility records were exposed, you have the right to seek compensation. You do not need to prove financial loss – emotional distress is enough. The sensitivity of this data makes compensation claims even stronger.
Take action with Join the Claim
At Join the Claim, we connect victims with expert legal teams to help them seek justice. If you were affected by the Lister Fertility Clinic data breach, we believe you deserve compensation for this serious violation of privacy.
Check your eligibility with Join the Claim today.
