ChartSquad warns legal industry: buying client medical records from unauthorized intermediaries creates ethical and legal liability risks.
HEBER CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, February 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As recent litigation exposes alleged systematic fraud in medical records procurement, ChartSquad‘s Chief Legal Officer is putting the legal profession on notice: law firms that knowingly purchase client medical records from entities operating under false pretenses may be exposing themselves to significant ethical and legal liability.
The warning follows Epic Systems Corporation’s January 13 federal lawsuit¹ alleging that health tech companies fraudulently accessed nearly 300,000 patient records and sold them to attorneys assembling mass tort cases. As healthcare interoperability frameworks, designed to facilitate legitimate patient access, face mounting evidence of abuse by commercial intermediaries misrepresenting themselves as treating providers to extract and resell protected health information, the implications for plaintiff attorneys and legal practices that routinely obtain medical records for litigation support are significant, and the compliance landscape is rapidly shifting.
A Statement from Melanie Carpenter, Esq., Chief Legal Officer, ChartSquad:
Recent litigation has brought renewed attention to a serious issue facing healthcare, legal services, and health information exchange: the misuse of patient data under false pretenses.
Let me be clear about where ChartSquad stands.
Patients have a legal and fundamental right to their medical records. Those records belong to the patient, not to vendors, not to intermediaries, and not to anyone attempting to monetize access by misrepresenting who they are or why they are requesting them.
Fraudulently holding oneself out as a treating healthcare provider to gain access to patient records and then reselling that information for profit is a gross abuse of the system. It undermines patient rights, violates the trust that interoperability frameworks are built on, and threatens the integrity of healthcare data exchange.
Equally important: lawyers should not buy their clients’ medical records.
There are lawful, transparent pathways for obtaining records directly from patients or providers with proper authorization. When records are knowingly purchased from entities that obtained them under false pretenses and those costs are then passed back to the client, it raises serious ethical and fiduciary concerns. Participation in such practices does not insulate law firms from risk; it can expose them to it.
At ChartSquad, we believe access and privacy are not competing values. Privacy is the foundation that makes access possible. Interoperability only works when every participant respects purpose limitations, patient consent, and the law.
That is why ChartSquad is built around a simple principle: patients come first.
We are committed to honoring patient access rights, rejecting misuse of healthcare credentials or exchange frameworks, providing transparency in how records are requested, used, and billed, and refusing to participate in systems that profit from deception.
Healthcare interoperability is one of the most powerful advancements in modern medicine, but only if it is protected. What we tolerate today defines what the system becomes tomorrow.
At ChartSquad, we choose trust. We choose accountability. And we choose to stand with patients.
About ChartSquad:
ChartSquad is a Personal Health Record (PHR) platform empowering patients nationwide with direct access to their healthcare journey. With legally protected access under federal Patient Right of Access laws, HIPAA, HITECH, and the 21st Century CURES Act, patients can request, manage, and share their information securely from their own PHR, with anyone they choose. We put the patient in control of their own Protected Health Information (PHI) as it should be, eliminating much of the red tape and privacy concerns that otherwise exist. With better access and control, ChartSquad believes patients can obtain better healthcare outcomes.
¹ Epic Systems Corporation v. Health Gorilla, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:26-cv-00029 (W.D. Wis. Jan. 13, 2026). Complaint available at: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/epic-systems-vs-health-gorilla-complaint.pdf
Melanie Carpenter
ChartSquad
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