Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf is a New York Plaintiff's personal injury law firm specializing in automobile accidents, construction accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, police misconduct and all types of New York personal injury litigation.
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Cybersecurity and Patient Safety: A Growing Concern in Medical Malpractice Litigation

Patients are at risk of technology hazardsOur Medical Malpractice Lawyers Explain How Data Breaches and Cyberattacks Are Endangering Patient Care in 2025

The landscape of healthcare risk continues to evolve, and in 2025, cybersecurity breaches have become one of the most pressing patient safety concerns. According to the most recent patient safety rankings, cybersecurity now ranks among the top threats to quality care in hospitals and healthcare systems across the United States.

As New York medical malpractice lawyers, we are seeing firsthand how data security failures can lead to devastating outcomes for patients and potential liability for healthcare providers.

Disrupted Care, Delayed Diagnoses, and Avoidable Harm

Cyberattacks are not just administrative problems. They can interfere with the delivery of critical care. In 2023 alone, there were 725 major healthcare data breaches, compromising the personal health information of over 133 million individuals. Many of these incidents resulted in disruptions to diagnostic testing, canceled procedures, and delayed treatments, directly impacting patient health.

When hospitals lose access to electronic health records (EHRs) due to ransomware or network shutdowns, patients may experience:

  • Delayed or missed diagnoses

  • Incorrect medication administration

  • Longer hospital stays and more complications

  • Failure to transfer time-sensitive information to specialists or emergency personnel

These are not just IT problems—they are patient safety issues with real medical consequences.

Legal Liability and the Duty to Protect Patients

Hospitals and medical providers have a legal duty to protect patient information and ensure continuity of care. Failure to do so may constitute negligence, particularly when a cyberattack leads to avoidable medical errors or patient harm.

For example, if a hospital’s failure to implement reasonable cybersecurity measures results in a system outage during a critical medical emergency, and a patient is harmed as a result, the institution may be held liable in a medical malpractice claim or a data breach lawsuit.

Healthcare organizations may also face:

  • Private civil lawsuits

  • Regulatory penalties under HIPAA and state privacy laws

  • Reputational damage and long-term financial losses

The Human Cost of Digital Vulnerabilities

The impact of cybersecurity failures extends beyond technical downtime:

  • Patients may suffer physical harm due to missed medications or delayed surgeries.

  • Healthcare workers may be forced to operate without access to life-saving information, leading to heightened stress and decision-making errors.

  • Nearby emergency departments may be overwhelmed when hospitals divert patients due to outages, putting regional care systems under strain.

Our Role in Holding Negligent Institutions Accountable

At Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf, we closely monitor the intersection of technology and healthcare. Our attorneys have decades of experience representing patients who have been injured due to negligence, delays in diagnosis, surgical errors, and other avoidable mistakes—many of which are now increasingly linked to systemic failures like cybersecurity breaches.

If you or a loved one suffered harm because a healthcare provider failed to safeguard your care due to a data breach, you may have legal options. We can help you determine whether hospital negligence or lack of reasonable safeguards contributed to the injury.

📞 Contact our top-rated New York medical malpractice lawyers at (212) 943-1090 for a free consultation.