When AI Botches Your Medical Diagnosis, Who's To Blame? (qz.com)

Robert Hart has posed an interested question in his report on Quartz: When artificial intelligence botches your medical diagnosis, who's to blame? Do you blame the AI, designer or organization? It's just one of many questions popping up and starting to be seriously pondered by experts as artificial intelligence and automation continue to become more entwined into our daily lives. From the report: The prospect of being diagnosed by an AI might feel foreign and impersonal at first, but what if you were told that a robot physician was more likely to give you a correct diagnosis? Medical error is currently the third leading cause of death in the U.S., and as many as one in six patients in the British NHS receive incorrect diagnoses. With statistics like these, it's unsurprising that researchers at Johns Hopkins University believe diagnostic errors to be "the next frontier for patient safety." Of course, there are downsides. AI raises profound questions regarding medical responsibility. Usually when something goes wrong, it is a fairly straightforward matter to determine blame. A misdiagnosis, for instance, would likely be the responsibility of the presiding physician. A faulty machine or medical device that harms a patient would likely see the manufacturer or operator held to account. What would this mean for an AI?

Comments

Differential and management are not the same.

[Psychofreak]

So the computer produces a list of possible diagnosis. This list I understand is called a "differential diagnosis" and may have as few as 2 or 3 items or as many as several hundred.

I would expect that this diagnosis list, as well as a management plan, to be then put in the hands of a human. After a series of tests I would expect the AI to be consulted again if necessary.

In today's world and probably the near future, say the next decade, I doubt that medicine will become "autodoc" "robotic physician" the holographic "Doctor" or some "magic cryokit" There will be a human with a powerful tool to aid in diagnosis of the patient.

Now, what will happen in 50 years, that is to be seen.

Phil

Stupid

[ceoyoyo]

It's a stupid question that illustrates a misunderstanding about what diagnosis is.

If a fortune teller fails to predict you're going to get hit by a bus tomorrow, who's to blame, her, her crystal ball or it's manufacturer?

Physicians misdiagnose patients all the time because diagnosis depends on a variety of imperfect information and very often cannot be done accurately. That is nobody's fault.

Physicians also misdiagnose patients all the time because they aren't very good at keeping up with new developments in medicine or are otherwise negligent. That's their fault.

An AI could be wrong for the first reason. If so, nobody is at fault. If the AI is wrong because of a manufacturing defect, the manufacturer is at fault, or the supervising physician is, if they insist on being in that position.