28,000 files found in urologist's cloud account

A class action lawsuit filed in federal court seeks to determine why a pediatric urologist allegedly kept hundreds of private patient photos in the same cloud storage account as hundreds of images of child pornography. The suit names Dr. Bryan Sack, a pediatric urologist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and lists at least 13 potential victims. Investigators were alerted to the situation after Dropbox flagged potential child pornography in Sack's personal cloud storage account.

Attorney David Champine of Flood Law said investigators discovered more than just downloaded material in the account. According to court documents, the account contained nearly 28,000 files in total. This collection included nearly 1,300 files of child pornography downloaded from the internet, as well as medical-related photos and videos depicting close-up images of children's genitals. All items were saved in the same personal Dropbox account, a practice that violated hospital policy.

Champine stated that parents of patients are pressing for answers regarding the status of those photos. He noted that the primary question from clients is whether the images were disseminated elsewhere. “That's the biggest question we've had from so many of our clients, one, what happened to these photos, have they been disseminated anywhere. We don't know the answer to that yet,” Champine said. He added that as of now, it is unclear which specific children are included in the group of clients represented by the firm.

Parents reported observing Sack using his phone during examinations. Champine said some parents saw him taking photographs, while another witnessed him using the flashlight feature on his device. “Parents saw him using his phone to take photographs. Another parent saw him using the flashlight on his phone during an examination. We don't know if a photograph was taken,” Champine said. One unnamed parent described an instance where Sack asked to take multiple photos of her infant child's genitals, stating it was necessary for the procedure.

The lawsuit also alleges other inappropriate behaviors, such as Sack offering to help a child provide a urine sample in the bathroom. Champine said the child's father stopped this. “The doctor had offered to go into the bathroom with the kid to do it. Fortunately, that kids dad put a stop to that. So there were clearly untoward things going on that parents were aware of and that were clearly against hospital policy from everything we were able to gather so far.”

Sack served as the chief of pediatric urology at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Toledo. The hospital issued a statement noting that the safety and privacy of patients are its top priority. It said law enforcement agencies informed the hospital that the criminal charges against Dr. Sack were not related to his clinical activity. Sack's attorney did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

The class action lawsuit is currently pending in federal court. Champine expects the case to grow as proceedings continue. The suit aims to clarify the scope of the data breach and the handling of patient images by the defendant.