Medical professionals can take steps to mitigate the risks of using artificial intelligence technologies in a clinical setting, thereby reducing potential exposure, experts say.
“Artificial intelligence is powerful, but it’s just a tool, a tool like any other that has come along in the medical profession,” said Scott M. Kosnoff, a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP in Indianapolis.
“If you’re a doctor and you’re using a stethoscope, you need to understand how to use it, what it’s good for and what its limitations are,” Mr. Kosnoff said. “The same is true for AI … you can’t be so enamored with it that you forget you’re the doctor and you’re in charge.”
In health care today, the physician bears potential legal liability or responsibility for potentially all health care outcomes regardless of how they are intermediated, said Dr. Richard E. Anderson, chairman and CEO of The Doctors Co. in Napa, California.
“If there’s an adverse outcome influenced by AI, a physician is going to be held accountable. So if you are using AI in your practices, you need to understand who the vendor is, what the benefits and blind spots are, and you need to understand that the vendor is unlikely to take responsibility for the outcome,” Dr. Anderson said.
“Use AI as a confirmation to reach the conclusion you otherwise would have reached,” said Nicholson Price, a professor of law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
While this approach leaves more of the capability of AI on the table, it’s “a safe course of action,” he said.
