Protecting Patient Rights in the Wake of the Epic Medical Records Lawsuit

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. 

— Melanie Carpenter, Esq.
Cheif Legal Officer, ChartSquad