Cerebral treated a 17-year-old without his parents’ consent. They found out the day he died

An internal memo described the software ID check as an impediment to customer retention when Cerebral was trying to quickly enroll tens of thousands of customers for mental-health treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic (Photo: iStock)Premium
An internal memo described the software ID check as an impediment to customer retention when Cerebral was trying to quickly enroll tens of thousands of customers for mental-health treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic (Photo: iStock)
 wsj 8 min read . Updated: 29 Sep 2022, 05:32 PM IST Khadeeja Safdar, The Wall Street Journal

Telehealth startup didn’t use software to flag minors, according to employees and documents; company says it complies with state rules and the case is an outlier

Telehealth startup Cerebral Inc. had software that could verify customer IDs but didn’t use it to check birth dates and other details, a policy that resulted in some minors being treated without parental consent, according to former employees and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.