Sharona Hoffman is a professor of health law and bioethics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.

Artificial intelligence in medicine raises legal and ethical concerns

Tech
September 29, 2019

The use of artificial intelligence in medicine is generating great excitement and hope for treatment advances.

AI generally refers to computers’ ability to mimic human intelligence and to learn. For example, by using machine learning, scientists are working to develop algorithms that will help them make decisions about cancer treatment. They hope that computers will be able to analyze …

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Artificial intelligence in medicine raises legal and ethical concerns

Physician burnout is as much a legal problem as it is a medical one

Policy
August 5, 2019

A career as a physician has traditionally been considered to be among the best vocations that talented students can pursue. That may no longer be the case. All too many doctors report that they are unhappy, frustrated, and even prepared to leave the profession. That should worry all of us. The physician burnout crisis is likely to affect our quality of care and our access to health care providers.

According to …

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Physician burnout is as much a legal problem as it is a medical one

The CVS merger with Aetna: What does it mean?

Policy
December 18, 2017

The announcement that CVS plans to acquire Aetna for US$69 billion raises hope and concerns.

The transaction would create a new health care giant. Aetna is the third-largest health insurer in the United States, insuring about 46.7 million people.

CVS operates 9,700 pharmacies and 1,000 MinuteClinics. A decade ago, it also purchased Caremark and now operates …

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The CVS merger with Aetna: What does it mean?

Our laws don’t do enough to protect our health data

Policy
November 3, 2017

Have you ever wondered why your computer often shows you ads that seem tailor-made for your interests? The answer is big data. By combing through extremely large datasets, analysts can reveal patterns in your behavior.

A particularly sensitive type of big data is medical big data. Medical big data can consist of electronic health records, insurance claims, information entered by patients into websites such as PatientsLikeMe and more. …

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Our laws don’t do enough to protect our health data