Google is collecting the private health information of patients across the United States, a federal lawsuit alleges.
The class-action complaint was filed May 17 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District Court of California by two plaintiffs known as John Doe: one from Wisconsin and a patient of La Crosse, Wis.-based Gundersen Health System, another from Maryland who is a patient of Columbia, Md.-based MedStar Health.
They claim Google's code, which is present on 94 percent of healthcare provider websites, tracked, collected and monetized their health information, violating federal, state and common law. In the lawsuit, they cite Google's own generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, confirming the "impropriety of its conduct."
They seek actual damages and any profit Google made from the data, as well as equitable and declaratory relief, including injunctive relief.
A Google spokesperson told Becker's the company is reviewing the lawsuit.