Can AI Misdiagnosis Be Considered Medical Malpractice?

Artificial intelligence rapidly went from a theory to a definitive tool used every day in healthcare. Hospitals, medical specialists, and clinics use AI to help with diagnosis, imaging analysis, risk prediction, and clinical guidance. Technology can be a valuable tool in a doctor’s arsenal, but it is not perfect. When a patient gets an incorrect diagnosis because of a clinician’s reliance on AI, they may be able to sue the doctor, the facility, or other involved parties.

That’s where our team steps in to help. If your doctor used AI in your diagnosis or treatment and you suffered physical harm as a result, let’s discuss your case in greater detail. Give us a call today to discuss your next steps.

How AI is being used in medical diagnosis today

AI is used in a variety of ways to assist with medical diagnosis, from analyzing imaging data and test results to interpreting tissue slides.

The way AI is used depends largely on the area of specialty; radiologists often use AI to analyze MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays. In this environment, AI is considered a more efficient way to interpret multiple images.

In pathology, specialists use AI to read tissue slides, look for abnormalities, and use that information for diagnostic purposes.

Genomic specialists also use AI to predict how diseases will play out, determine treatment plans, and track how a disease progresses over time.

Triage and prioritization software helps with diagnostic needs in emergency rooms, where interpreting symptoms and assessing risk is critical for determining which patients get rooms and when.

While these systems can be used to drive down costs, assist clinicians, and improve efficiency, it’s important to recognize their limitations. AI systems don’t think like doctors do. They make their decisions and claims based on algorithms and historical datasets, and as a result, errors are always a possibility.

What is an AI misdiagnosis?

If a patient’s condition is incorrectly identified, delayed, or missed completely in connection with the use of AI technology, this may be described as an AI-related misdiagnosis, but any legal claim is evaluated under traditional medical malpractice standards. These errors can happen in a number of ways:

• Flawed algorithms: Algorithms built on limited data or patient datasets that don’t really represent the population as a whole may result in inaccurate or missed diagnoses.
• Biased training data: Bias is a very real issue in medicine, and AI is not immune to it. Remember, it’s trained on medical professionals’ work, so any bias influencing the data it’s trained on can also appear in its responses. As a result, you may see worse outcomes or more missed diagnoses for certain demographic groups.
• Software errors and glitches: No matter how reliable a specific AI tool is, any piece of technology has glitches and crashes. This may result in inaccurate outputs that are based on partial or incorrect data.
• Overreliance: AI is a tool, not a replacement for medical knowledge and reasoning. When doctors accept diagnoses without using their own clinical reasoning, inaccurate diagnoses may be an issue.
• Failure to consider each patient’s specific needs: The tools that work on a population level don’t always work on an individual level. If a doctor accepts an AI diagnosis without considering a patient’s needs and contributing factors, they may miss the real diagnosis.

Medical malpractice basics

Before you can determine whether or not an AI misdiagnosis is medical malpractice, you have to understand how medical malpractice claims work. A valid claim must have four elements:

• Duty of care: The doctor had a professional duty to the patient. This involves demonstrating that the individual was a patient of the doctor.
• Breach: The doctor failed to uphold their professional duty by meeting the accepted standard of care.
• Causation: Their failure to meet the standard of care caused harm to the patient.
• Damages: As a result, the patient suffered measurable damages.

Does an AI misdiagnosis count as medical malpractice?

In many cases, AI-related misdiagnoses can form the basis of a medical malpractice claim. The issue isn’t whether or not the computer made an error; we all know that computers can and will make errors. It’s a matter of whether or not the human medical provider acted in a reasonable manner and met the standard of care for their position. Even if AI gets something wrong, the final decision to diagnose or start treatment comes down to a doctor, not the computer. Issues that may come up in court include:

• Whether or not the physician relied blindly on AI output without using their clinical judgment
• If there were symptoms or conflicting test results that should have made the doctor question AI’s diagnosis
• The doctor’s understanding (or lack of understanding) regarding the limitations of the AI system

By bringing in medical professionals in the same area of practice with a similar amount of training and experience, your medical malpractice lawyer can determine whether or not the care provider acted in a way that any reasonably careful provider would have.

Who you sue depends largely on the details of your case. The doctor may be at fault for using AI inaccurately, or the facility itself may be at fault for improperly training physicians or pushing AI-provided diagnoses over clinicians’ own diagnoses. AI companies are typically not defendants in medical malpractice cases, though in limited and fact-specific circumstances, a separate product liability claim may be considered.

Challenges in AI-related medical malpractice cases

Artificial intelligence has advanced at breakneck speed, which has made it difficult for the legal world to stay on top of challenges and legal concerns. Unique legal hurdles you may face in your claim include:

• AI algorithms that do not explain how they make their decisions
• Difficulty proving causation
• Reliance on expert testimony to explain rapidly evolving standards of care when AI is involved
• A general lack of legal precedent

Working with an experienced medical malpractice attorney is critical, particularly when you’re dealing with an issue that is so new that there are few cases establishing legal precedence.

Explore your next steps with Crandall & Pera Law

At Crandall & Pera Law, we understand how AI can make medical malpractice claims even more complex and difficult to navigate than before. We’re here to advocate for you as you seek justice and closure. Contact us online or call us now.