What to tell patients when artificial intelligence is part of the care team; American Medical Association (AMA), February 13, 2019

Staff News Writer, American Medical Association (AMA); What to tell patients when artificial intelligence is part of the care team

"Artificial intelligence (AI) in health care can help manage and analyze data, make decisions and conduct conversations. The availability of AI is destined to drastically change physicians’ roles and everyday practices. It is key that physicians be able to adapt to changes in diagnostics, therapeutics and practices of maintaining patient safety and privacy. However, physicians need to be aware of ethically complex questions about implementation, uses and limitations of AI in health care.   

The February issue of the AMA Journal of Ethics® (@JournalofEthics) features numerous perspectives on AI in health care and gives you an opportunity to earn CME credit."

Dozens of recent clinical trials may contain wrong or falsified data, claims study; Guardian, June 5, 2017

Stephen Buranyi and Hannah Devlin, Guardian; Dozens of recent clinical trials may contain wrong or falsified data, claims study

"The analysis was carried out by John Carlisle, a consultant anaesthetist at Torbay Hospital, who previously used similar statistical tools to expose one of the most egregious cases of scientific fraud on record, involving a Japanese anaesthesiologist who was found to have fabricated data in many of his 183 retracted scientific papers.

In the latest study, Carlisle reviewed data from 5,087 clinical trials published during the past 15 years in two prestigious medical journals, Jama and the New England Journal of Medicine, and six anaesthesia journals. In total, 90 published trials had underlying statistical patterns that were unlikely to appear by chance in a credible dataset, the review concluded.

“This raises serious questions about data in some studies,” said Carlisle. “Innocent or not, the rate of error is worrying as we determine how to treat patients based upon this evidence,” he added.

Dr Andrew Klein, the editor-in-chief of Anaesthesia, which has published the new analysis, called for the studies identified as potentially flawed to be reviewed urgently.

“It’s very scary that we may be treating patients based on false evidence.” he said. “It may be the case that certain treatments may need to be withdrawn from use.”"

F.D.A. Weighs Fertility Method That Raises Ethical Questions; New York Times, 2/25/14

Sabrina Tavernese, New York Times; F.D.A. Weighs Fertility Method That Raises Ethical Questions:

"The Food and Drug Administration is weighing a fertility procedure that involves combining the genetic material of three people to make a baby free of certain defects, a therapy that critics say is an ethical minefield and could lead to the creation of designer babies.

The agency has asked a panel of experts to summarize current science to determine whether the approach — which has been performed successfully in monkeys by researchers in Oregon and in people more than a decade ago — is safe enough to be used again in people.

The F.D.A. meeting, on Tuesday and Wednesday, is meant to address the scientific issues around the procedure, not the ethics. Regulators are asking scientists to discuss the risks to the mother and the potential child and how future studies should be structured, among other issues."