they would be in violation of federal law......It appears EVERYONE is in violation of federal law except, We the people. The system of law has been broken since Obama got in. Wake up.
They are not, its clear from the article what is going on:
“Google in this case is using the data, in part, to design new software, underpinned by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning, that zeroes in on individual patients to suggest changes to their care. Staffers across Alphabet Inc., GOOG -0.93% Google’s parent, have access to the patient information, documents show, including some employees of Google Brain, a research science division credited with some of the company’s biggest breakthroughs.”
Your data can be shared with others as part of them doing their business... looks like this company has reached agreement with Google to analyze their data to help develop better treatment options etc...
Of course, its highly unlikely that is ALL that Google is doing with that data.