Elkins v. Southern Indiana Health Management, Inc.

Plaintiffs filed a putative class action lawsuit alleging that a Facebook tracking software embedded in defendant's healthcare patient portal shared their health data without consent. The lawsuit was originally filed in state court, but defendant removed it to federal court under the federal officer removal statute, arguing that it was “acting under” the Department of Health and Human Services when it created online patient portals. The district court rejected defendant’s argument and defendant appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, explaining that it agreed with the district court that the health providers were not acting under the federal government when they created their patient portals. (JACKSON-AKIWUMI and KOLAR, concurring)