California Doctor Sued for Using Patient Records in Election Campaign

A doctor in California, running for Congress as a Democrat, is facing a lawsuit alleging she misused patients’ medical records to push her election campaign during the 2026 midterm elections.

Dr. Sonia Devgan-Kacker, who operates Westlake Village Urgent Care, is being sued by a former patient named Sean Rose.

In his lawsuit, he cites text messages he received from an emergency medical facility while Devgan-Kacker was campaigning for the 26th District seat.

The message, which he received in May 2026, started with a “paid” political advertisement for “Dr. Sonia” that included her photo and highlighted her qualifications.

The text continued with information indicating that “clinics will be open during normal business hours during the campaign period,” according to reports.

Rose noted that the remainder of the message seemed to reiterate Dr. Sonia’s qualifications and included a link to her campaign site.

According to the legal complaint, Rose pointed out that the phone number shown in the ad belonged to Devgan-Kacker’s campaign, not the clinic itself.

“It’s perplexing why messages about clinic hours would come from a political campaign rather than directly from the clinic to patients,” the complaint stated.

The clinic also admitted to utilizing patient records to send the text message to Rose on May 21.

Following this, Rose began a series of emails asking if the texts originated from the clinic.

The clinic’s response indicated, “It seems you were a patient here some years ago, which is why we have your number. We sent a text to all past patients,” according to the complaint.

Moreover, they claimed the messages were distributed through a third-party service for mass text messaging. Later that day, Rose received another email attempting to clarify the initial response.

Subsequent communications stated that the outreach was directed towards community members and not intended to specifically contact individuals based on their health conditions.

However, Rose contested this, explaining that even though he was once a patient in District 26, he had moved to District 29, indicating that the campaign should have had access to public voter data showing his new registration.

The class action lawsuit references the California Medical Records Confidentiality Act, which prohibits healthcare providers from disclosing a patient’s medical information without their consent.

Rose is seeking both statutory and punitive damages, as well as a determination that the clinic breached the Medical Records Act.

Devgan-Kacker announced her candidacy for Congress in January, shortly after U.S. Representative Julia Brownlee declared she would not seek re-election in District 26.

On her campaign site, she stated, “I’m not a career politician. I make a living solving problems, and I’m running to bring practical leadership, accountability, and real-world experience to Congress.”

However, her campaign did not advance past the June primary. Efforts for a comment from Devgan-Kacker have been made.