SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Two nurses in the Chicagoland area believe their hospitals have violated the state's biometric privacy law. Now, all eyes are on the Illinois Supreme Court to see how a future ruling with impact the health care and business industry.

Both nurses claim their workplace requires them to use fingerprint scanners to open medicine cabinets. The state's biometric information privacy law allows people to file lawsuits against companies for not receiving consent to capture and store personal data like fingerprints.

The nurses said their employers never asked them to sign off on using the fingerprints and failed to provide information about how their prints would be stored or deleted.

"HIPAA has nothing to do with worker data," said attorney Jim Zouras. "HIPAA has nothing to do with the rights of employees or the duties of employers."

However, Northwestern Medicine, UChicago Medicine, and medical technology business Becton, Dickinson and Company claim there is an exemption in the law for health care treatment, payment or operations under HIPAA.

"Healthcare providers' use of automated dispensing cabinets to access medications and medical supplies to treat patients is unquestionably healthcare treatment under HIPAA," said attorney Bonnie DelGobbo. "As such, it falls squarely within this exclusion that the legislature has drafted for us." 

Plaintiffs said that exclusion only applies to patient data. Zouras also stressed that the defendant's interpretation of the law would leave workers without any biometric protection.

"If the defendant is correct, that means the General Assembly decided that as much as 10% of the Illinois workforce should have no biometric privacy protection whatsoever, simply by virtue of working in the health care field," Zouras said.

Technology in medicine

Sill, lawyers for Becton, Dickinson and Co. said biometrics are industry standard. Attorney Matt Wolfe explained the technology has become widely used in health care over the past 15 years.

"It's about the use of automated dispensing cabinets to check patients records, administer medication, and track the administration of medications," Wolfe said.

The Illinois Health and Hospital Association and Illinois Chamber of Commerce support the exclusion of health care workers from BIPA protections. Meanwhile, the American Nurses Association supported the nurses who brought the issue to court.

Illinois Supreme Court justices took the case under advisement. They could release a ruling within the next few months. 

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