Sorrell Case

Sorrell (Vermont) v. IMS Health Inc.

Pharmacies forward a copy of prescription information to IMS, which in turns provides a copy of the information to pharmaceutical companies for marketing to prescribing doctors. Vermont passed a statute baning the sale of this information. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, January 2011. The question before the Court is "Does a law restricting access to personal information in nonpublic prescription drug records violate the First Amendment?"

DATA PRIVACY issue: the identifiability and privacy risks of de-identified patient data that is regulated by the Vermont statute. Below are links of papers and briefs specific to the data privacy issue in the case.

Our Contributions

Background Documents

Data Privacy Documents (sequential)


See SCOTUS for a list of official documents filed before the Supreme Court in this case, some of which are also archived above.

Related links:


Data Privacy Lab