Google’s artificial intelligence DeepMind received the data in 2015 from the Royal Free NHS Trust for the purpose of testing a smartphone app called Streams. The smartphone app was tested to detect acute kidney injuries. The claim alleges that Google and DeepMind “obtained and used a substantial number of confidential medical records without patients’ knowledge or consent”. The case should provide some much-needed clarity as to the proper parameters in which technology companies can be allowed to access and make use of private health information. The hope is that this case can achieve a fair outcome and closure for the many patients whose confidential records were – without the patients’ knowledge – obtained and used by these large tech companies. But how to prove that the data subjects suffered any material damage or distress?
