Patient Sues Allegheny Health Network and Highmark Over Abridge AI Recordings

A Pittsburgh area patient sued Allegheny Health Network and Highmark Health, alleging they failed to obtain informed consent before an AI tool recorded confidential medical conversations, according to TribLive. The complaint was filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court and seeks class action status.

The lawsuit alleges that Abridge recorded conversations between patients and clinicians, transferred the audio to its servers, and could retain the data or use it to train commercial AI models. The plaintiff says she was told an AI tool would be used during her appointment but was not told that it would record the entire conversation or send the recording to an outside company.

The complaint includes claims under Pennsylvania wiretap law, doctor patient confidentiality rules, privacy law, negligence, implied contract, unjust enrichment, and federal health privacy law. It seeks damages and an injunction blocking the use of recording tools without clear disclosure and consent. Allegheny Health Network began using Abridge in 2024 and expanded it to about 400 providers across more than 40 specialties, while Highmark began using it in August 2025. A spokesperson for the organizations declined to comment. According to the complaint, Abridge is used by more than 300 health systems serving more than 250 million patients. Similar lawsuits have been filed in California against medical systems over their use of Abridge, TribLive reports.