Artificial Intelligence and Liability in Medicine Balancing Safety and Innovation

• Published in: The Milbank quarterly Vol. 99; no. 3; pp. 629 - 647
• Main Authors: MALIHA, GEORGE, GERKE, SARA, COHEN, I. GLENN, PARIKH, RAVI B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley 01.09.2021; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adjudication; Algorithms; Artificial Intelligence; Delivery of Health Care - trends; Health Policy; Humans; Injuries; Innovations; Insurance; Intelligence; Learning algorithms; Liability; Liability, Legal; Machine learning; Malpractice; Medical malpractice; Medicine; Organizational Innovation; Perspective; Professional malpractice; Safety regulations; liability; artificial intelligence; Machine learning; malpractice
• ISSN: 0887-378X; 1468-0009; 1468-0009
• DOI: 10.1111/1468-0009.12504

Policy Points With increasing integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in medicine, there are concerns that algorithm inaccuracy could lead to patient injury and medical liability. While prior work has focused on medical malpractice, the artificial intelligence ecosystem consists of multiple stakeholders beyond clinicians. Current liability frameworks are inadequate to encourage both safe clinical implementation and disruptive innovation of artificial intelligence. Several policy options could ensure a more balanced liability system, including altering the standard of care, insurance, indemnification, special/no‐fault adjudication systems, and regulation. Such liability frameworks could facilitate safe and expedient implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning in clinical care.