A few Californians sued Sutter Health and MemorialCare this week for allegations that an artificial intelligence transcription tool was used without their consent in violation of state and federal law.
The proposed class action, filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, says that over the past six months, the plaintiffs received medical care at various Sutter and MemorialCare facilities.
During those visits, medical staff used Abridge AI. According to the complaint, the system “intercepted and processed their confidential doctor-patient communications. Plaintiffs did not receive clear notice that their medical conversations would be recorded by the AI platform, transmitted outside the clinical environment, or processed through third-party systems.”
The complaint adds that these records “contain personally identifiable medical information, including but not limited to medical histories, symptoms, diagnoses, medications, treatment discussions and other sensitive health disclosures communicated during confidential medical consultations.”
In recent years, Abridge’s software and AI service has seen rapid adoption among major healthcare providers across the country, including Kaiser Permanente, Mayo Clinic, Duke Health and many others.
