Doctors want liability shield from AI mistakes
Why it matters: The use of increasingly sophisticated AI tools and recommendations is blurring the lines around negligence in health care, raising questions about whether doctors should be held responsible for decisions that rely on software.
Key points
- The software developer wasn't held liable because its licensing agreement left final medical decisions to doctors.
- Between the lines: The group's push comes as AI clinical tools are flooding the health system, unlocking new efficiencies but giving algorithms increasing power to make decisions like whether to order a diagnostic test or prescribe an expensive drug.
- Legal and medical experts point to the possibility of triage errors, in which AI systems that process clinical histories, vital signs and imaging can misjudge the severity of a case without the attending doctor's knowledge.
Driving the news: The American Medical Association this week called for federal and state legislation to protect physicians from liability when AI products injure patients, despite physicians using the tools as intended.
Additional details
- In cases where a patient is harmed, responsibility should fall on AI manufacturers and vendors — and possibly on health systems that require the AI systems' use — instead of through a medical malpractice claim against the physician, the AMA argues.
- The big picture: Courts around the country are concluding that companies that design, train and deploy AI systems bear responsibility for what the systems do, said University of California, Davis professor Martin Hilbert, who studies the role of digital information and algorithms in society.
- Accountability hinges on factors including who shares responsibility when multiple parties build an AI system, how to prove fault inside an opaque model, and what to do when damages surface only after the system is deployed.
- Hospitals generally support putting the onus on developers and vendors for monitoring the systems' performance, saying the "black box" nature of many systems can make it hard to identify flaws.
- Context: There already have been lawsuits around algorithm-driven medical decisions, including a wrongful death case in Alabama involving a screening tool for heart abnormalities.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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