As Reported by Media, Google is Collecting Health Data of Americans without their Permission

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Google has been collecting the health data of millions of Americans without their consent.

A report is making rounds, according to which Google has been collecting the health data of millions of Americans to design Artificial Intelligence-driven software without taking any permission from them and their doctors.

“Google is engaged with one of the US’s largest health-care systems on a project to collect and crunch the detailed personal-health information of millions of people across 21 states,”

said a report in The Wall Street Journal, which also said that at least 150 Google staffers may have access to that data.

The report has said that St. Louis-based healthcare organization Ascension is sharing everything about the patients like their lab results, diagnoses and hospitalization records along with their health histories complete with patient names and dates of birth.

“The initiative, code-named ‘Project Nightingale,’ appears to be the biggest effort yet by a Silicon Valley giant to gain a toehold in the health-care industry through the handling of patients’ medical data,”

as stated in the report.

This collection of health data is going to be the next big frontier for tech giants as Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft is planning big to impart the data findings into their devices and solutions in the expanding healthcare space.

Later, a statement by The New York Times said that dozens of Google employees may have access to this delicate patient data and some may have downloaded that data too. As a part of the “Project Nightingale”, Ascension uploaded the patient data to Google’s Cloud servers. 

After this report, Google tried to clarify its partnership with Ascension in a recent blog post in which Tariq Shaukat, President, Industry Products and Solutions, Google Cloud said,

“All of Google’s work with Ascension adheres to industry-wide regulations regarding patient data, and come with strict guidelines on data privacy, security, and usage.”

Google said that it is having a Business Associate Agreement with Ascension, according to which they govern access to the Protected Health Information for the purpose of helping providers support patient care.

The giant said that

“To be clear: under this arrangement, Ascension’s data cannot be used for any other purpose than for providing these services we’re offering under the agreement, and patient data cannot and will not be combined with any Google consumer data.”

Even Ascension issued a statement saying that it is working with Google to enhance the health and wellness of people and communities, along with delivering a complete portfolio of digital capabilities that boosts the experience of Ascension consumers, patients and clinical providers across the range of care.