The technological revolution in the social and health field is going at 180 kilometers per hour. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer the future, but the present. In fact, it is being used in diagnostic imaging and biomedical research, among other types of activities. However, A series of risks and ethical problems surround it, deontological and legal, according to the experts who have participated in the National Congress of Health Law.
Artificial Intelligence is based on the use of huge data lakes. This technology has the ability to self-learn, known as machine learning. However, it is precisely this point that generates ethical, deontological and legal problems. The professor of Legal Medicine at the Faculty of Legal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid, Benjamín Herreros Ruiz-Valdepeñas, says that these risks can affect patients, health professionals and the technology developers themselves.
As for patients, experts wonder if this technology can guarantee the same quality of care as that of a doctor. Likewise, “the code of ethics states that the doctor must demand control over this to guarantee the patient’s safety,” explains Benjamín Herreros. In addition, the professional must commit to controlling the confidentiality of patient data. “You must give consent for your data to be used,” it says.
Another problem they face is equity. “It is said that AI can be medicine for the rich, but also an answer to where resources are lacking,” he points out. There is also the risk that this technology dehumanizes care.
Regarding the developers of Artificial Intelligence, there may be third party interests in which this technology is put into operation and is not beneficial. In fact, there are many AI processes that have not been researched or proven to be better than classical medicine. In other words, the morality of the creator comes into play.
As for health professionals, they must take responsibility for AI. However, for Herreros Ruiz-Valdepeñas the main problem is that doctors do not think or give up on being doctors.
On the other hand, the partner in charge of the Insurance and Reinsurance Area of Pérez-Llorca Abogados, Joaquín Ruiz Echauri, indicates that the focus of the concern is that the use of this technology is not harmful. In fact, in the future it is likely that cases of damages caused by the use of Artificial Intelligence will go to court.
On the other side of the coin, Artificial Intelligence has a series of advantages. It has the ability to analyze a large amount of data and generate conclusions through algorithms; it has no cognitive biases, errors or affective influences. “If it is good, you have to use it, but you have to be realistic and see how it is beneficial,” says Herreros Ruiz-Valdepeñas.
“AI can analyze much more data than we can and is capable of finding correlations between different variables. For example, just by looking at an electrocardiogram it can identify the sex and age of the person,” says the founder of Savana, Ignacio Hernández Medrano. “Also, just by looking at the Medical History you can see if a person is going to develop Alzheimer’s,” he adds.
A “practically non-existent” regulation
The way AI is built, it poses big problems from a legal perspective. And it is that, its regulation is “practically non-existent”according to the magistrate of the Constitutional Court, César Tolosa Tribiño. “It is very complex to establish a regulation of certain permanence over time,” he says. Furthermore, a legal definition of the algorithm is missing.
On June 7, 2022, a report was issued on the risks of Artificial Intelligence in the doctor-patient relationship. This affects the right to equality in access to quality healthcare since there could be a difference between pioneering areas and those in need; and the right to data and identity protection, autonomy and decision-making.
It is worth mentioning that today, in Spain there are two regulations that are directly related to the AI regulation: that of medical devices and that of in vitro medical devices.
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