Google employees were recently required to share personal health information with a third-party AI tool or else forego health benefits. Amid significant employee concerns for medical privacy, Google retracted this policy, making disclosure optional. But worker medical privacy remains under attack nationally.

Despite over 2.5 million job-related injuries and illnesses annually and the proliferation of patient medical information as technology grows, injured workers often do not enjoy medical privacy protections that even prisoners can count on.

This surprising denial of medical privacy is the result of our current approach to workers’ compensation. State constitutional and statutory privacy protections may not apply to workers who file for workers’ compensation. And federal medical privacy protections are judicially construed to exempt workers’ compensation processes.

As a result, injured workers — many with severe disabilities — face a difficult choice: file for workers’ compensation benefits for their injuries or else protect their medical privacy.

The situation is different for almost all other patients who seek medical care. The........

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