Recordings
A lawsuit over a California health system's AI scribe
A class action filed in late 2025 claims that California's Sharp HealthCare recorded appointments with an AI scribe without patients' knowledge, and that the notes falsely said they had consented. These are allegations.
In late 2025 a proposed class action was filed in San Diego Superior Court against Sharp HealthCare; the local public broadcaster KPBS reported on it on 11 December. These are the complaint's claims; no court had ruled on them when the sources were published.
According to the complaint, Sharp began using an AI app called Abridge in April 2025, which records conversations between patients and clinicians and generates draft medical notes. The recordings captured everything said in the exam room, including symptoms, diagnoses and personal details, and the audio was sent to the vendor's servers, where its employees could review it. Patients were allegedly never told or asked for consent. California law requires all parties to consent before a confidential conversation is recorded.
The plaintiff says he found out he had been recorded only by reading his medical notes from a July appointment. According to the complaint, the app automatically wrote into the notes that the patient had been advised and had consented, although the plaintiff says this never happened. When he contacted the clinic, it apologised and said the file could stay on the vendor's servers for about a month. The complaint also alleges there was no working process to delete the audio and transcripts from all systems at a patient's request.
The plaintiff seeks damages, corrections to medical records and a court order barring use of the tool without proper consent. The complaint estimates that more than 100,000 patients may have been recorded. Sharp said it could not comment on pending litigation.
What can we learn from it?
Whether or not the claims are upheld, the case shows two weak points of cloud scribes: the audio goes to the vendor, and the machine can write things into the record that never happened – here, the consent itself. AI notes can still save a lot of paperwork. With Confiella the recording does not leave your computer and the transcript is made locally; informing the client and obtaining consent remain the professional's job. Good practice: tell the client about the recording in advance, ask for and record the consent yourself, and read any machine-written note before it enters the record.
Sources
- KPBS: Lawsuit claims Sharp HealthCare secretly recorded exam room conversations without patient consent
- MobiHealthNews: Patient files lawsuit against Sharp Healthcare for ambient AI use
This article is based on the public sources listed. If you find a mistake, write to us: [email protected]