Google under fire for its efforts to access health records

Tech giant Google continues to face criticism for the company’s reported efforts to obtain the health records of millions of Americans without their awareness or consent. A Wall Street Journal article published on Saturday, entitled “Inside Google’s Quest for Millions of Medical Records,” reported how the vendor has struck deals with some of the largest U.S. healthcare providers as part of a concerted effort gain access to troves of patient data. In just a few years, the company has achieved the ability to view or analyze tens of millions of patient health records in at least three-quarters of U.S. states, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of contractual agreements, states Saturday’s WSJ piece.