Clearing the Fog: A Scoping Literature Review on the Ethical Issues Surrounding Artificial Intelligence-Based Medical Devices

Alessia Maccaro ¹, Katy Stokes ¹, Laura Statham ^1,2

⁰Applied Biomedical Signal Processing Intelligent eHealth Lab, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

Journal of Personalized Medicine +

|

May 25, 2024

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare raises ethical and legal concerns. This review synthesizes ethical frameworks, identifying transparency, accountability, and fairness as key issues for safe AI medical device implementation.

Area Of Science

Medical Ethics
Health Law
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

Background

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into healthcare presents complex ethical and legal challenges.
Stakeholders including philosophers, ethicists, regulators, and policymakers have voiced concerns regarding AI's implications in medical contexts.

Purpose Of The Study

To review the evolution of ethical and legal debates surrounding AI-based medical technologies.
To synthesize proposed ethical frameworks and identify recurring ethical themes.
To propose a coherent ethical framework for AI in medicine.

Main Methods

A comprehensive scoping review of literature on AI in healthcare.
Identification and synthesis of key ethical dimensions and proposed frameworks.
Analysis of ethical issues across diverse medical applications of AI.

Main Results

The review identified six recurrent ethical issues: transparency, accountability, confidentiality, autonomy, trust, and fairness.
A need for increased ethical awareness through interdisciplinary research was highlighted.
Essential components for ethical AI in medicine include education, competence, networks, and tools for researchers, developers, and regulators.

Conclusions

Interdisciplinary collaboration in research, regulation, and implementation is crucial for ethical, effective, and safe AI medical devices.
Addressing these ethical considerations will facilitate the successful translation of AI into healthcare systems.
Timely achievement of health benefits for patients and the public hinges on the responsible adoption of AI in healthcare.

Keywords:

artificial intelligence ethics healthcare machine learning medical devices regulatory affairs