Keeping the Patient at the Center of Machine Learning in Healthcare

Authors

Jessica Findley
Andrew Woods
Christopher Robertson, Boston University School of LawFollow
Marvin J. Slepian

Document Type

Response or Comment

Publication Date

10-2020

ISSN

1526-5161

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Language

54

Abstract

Char et al. (2020) aspire to provide "a systematic approach to identifying ... ethical concerns" around machine learning healthcare applications (ML-HCAs), which includes artificial intelligence and big data. Their approach, styled around the development "pipeline" for new technologies, has valuable insights, but we think it over-emphasizes technical design questions and under-emphasizes core ethical questions. There is little ethical debate about whether to maximize accuracy, evaluation, and oversight, at reasonable cost. Of course those goals should be pursued, but these are design challenges about feasibility more than ethical concerns.

Recommended Citation

Jessica Findley, Andrew Woods, Christopher Robertson & Marvin J. Slepian, Keeping the Patient at the Center of Machine Learning in Healthcare , in 20 The American Journal of Bioethics 54 (2020).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3810