AI and Surgical Robots: National and International Normative Perspectives

Abstract

The use of artificial intelligence in the medical field today represents an emerging reality with clear lines of development. It is already common, in the medical activity, the use of robots that replaces the professional operator both in the diagnostic phase and in the prognostic one. But if the advantages that the contribution of automated medicine brings are certain, the possible implications in terms of medical liability are less sure. At the root of the problem there are first of all the characteristics of the instrument, that doctrine defines opaque, precisely because it is not granted to the operator of the machine, and nor in some cases to the productor himself, the possibility to know and verify the processes that lead to the final result of the robot, given that its work is based on statistical inferences and, in some cases, on a deep learning algorithm. From this it follows that all the liability systems based on the criterion of imputation of fault for compensation may be incapacitated: if we can’t identify the moment of the error of the machine, there is no way to find the link between the event and the damage that caused it, link in the absence of which the damage itself cannot be compensated. For these reasons, the European Union is currently working to create a harmonized regulatory system for member states to provide health care providers with a normative system that can protect them and the patient.

Presenters

Elisa Colletti
RTDA, Scienze Economiche, Aziendali e Statistiche, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy