Google has succeeded in a bid to throw out a High Court claim brought on behalf of around 1.6 million people about the transfer of their medical records by an NHS trust.
The software giant and its artificial intelligence arm DeepMind was facing legal action over the transfer of patient data by the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust.
Records were transferred by the trust for use in the developing of a mobile app called Streams, which would analyse patient data and alert doctors if they were at risk of developing or had developed an acute kidney injury, a serious condition that can be fatal.
Andrew Prismall, who was treated at the Royal Free, brought the damages claim on behalf of the patients who had data transferred and alleged it was a misuse of private information.
Lawyers for Google and DeepMind said the claim was “bound to fail” and should be struck out.
A judge has ruled in their favour.
Mrs Justice Heather Williams announced her decision on Friday after considering legal arguments at a High Court hearing in London in March.
She said in a written ruling: “The claim form and the particulars of claim should be struck out at this stage and summary judgment entered for the defendants.”
