The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts has revoked the license of an athletic trainer after he admitted accessing confidential medical records of women who had undergone breast augmentations.

Jeremy A. Goates admitted accessing hundreds of files, many of which had sensitive images in them, according to a consent order revoking his license, including before and after pictures of women who had undergone breast augmentations.

Goates admitted to the board that he accessed the images from home and for his “personal use” over the course of several months, a violation of state board rules. He also admitted accessing material for other individuals.

Goates’ conduct is at the heart of a class action lawsuit filed by numerous women against LMH Health and the KU Health System claiming that their personal information, including nude medical photos, was improperly accessed by Goates at the University of Kansas Health System.

Goates has gone unnamed in court records, and he apparently has not been charged with a crime.

As the Journal-World reported in April, two women initiated a putative class action against KU and LMH Health demanding more than $5 million on behalf of at least 425 patients who had undergone various surgeries and procedures at Plastic Surgery Specialists of Lawrence, an affiliate of LMH. Patients say they suffered “grave invasions of privacy” when their most intimate medical files were accessed.

Their complaint alleges 13 legal violations, including computer fraud and abuse, negligence, breach of contract, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other claims.

Goates allegedly used his KU Health credentials for two years, the complaint alleges, to access the patient records, including nude photos, body measurements and other sensitive details, through an electronic records portal.

KU Health terminated Goates but failed to notify law enforcement, the complaint alleges; instead, KU Health notified patients of patient-file breaches by an employee but without disclosing the exact nature and scope of what had occurred. LMH, the complaint says, did not provide any notice at all about the breach. However, LMH Health said the hospital properly notified all patients impacted by a breach of health records.