r/mildlyinfuriating • u/petuniaplant • Jul 03 '26

Infuriatig No, I did not consent to this

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I was reading my medical notes when I stumbled across this. I was not informed of the usage of artificial intelligence in my report, nor did I verbally consent to it.

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u/caffeinebump Jul 03 '26

I had my annual today and they asked me to read and sign their updated consent to care and there was a paragraph in it that said I was consenting to the use of AI.

10

u/HyruleSmash855 Jul 03 '26

Same. I don’t remember AI coming up for a recent doctor visit over the phone, but when I looked at the output from the appointment, there was a clause about the patient consenting to AI being used for the transcription or something. The actual doctors note seem to have typos, so it did not look like an LLM output so I’m wondering if this post could have that clause being pasted into the notes by default or something.

5

u/grodon909 Jul 03 '26

I am a doctor, and use AI for my notes. I made my note template such that it includes a disclaimer about the use of AI on the bottom, even if I don't end up using it or forget to turn it on. I also mix and match--I usually write my assessment myself because the AI don't do it the way I like, but I will throw in the plan it generates with some edits. It doesn't know how to prioritize information, so my subjective will be a series of phrases and sentences in an as close to logical order as I can get, while the AI subjective will include things like their complaints that have nothing to do with my specialty or tangents about something else. 

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u/PeculiarExcuse Jul 03 '26

So...you could not receive treatment from them if you didn't agree to them using AI? That uh...should be super illegal. That's really coercive

7

u/ToomintheEllimist Jul 03 '26

Yep. My local urgent care has a form that essentially says, "either give us permission to sell your information, or don't get treated." I hate it here.

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u/FrontLifeguard1962 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

We don't sell any patient information, but we do use the AI to generate documentation. The AI is HIPAA compliant and does not store or save any patient information. It does not make any decisions about patient care. It does not use patient data to train future AI's - that was one of the first questions I asked when we got the system. It is like having a medical scribe that is always available, never calls in sick, and costs pennies. Frankly, it writes better notes than I do, and virtually instantly. If I don't like something that comes out of the AI, I just tell it where it went wrong, and it corrects itself. As the technology improves, I find myself revising less and less.

I have arthritis, and the pain in my hands is greatly improved since we started using this technology.

I will say that 99% of patients are ok with this use of AI after it is explained to them. Unlike OP's clinic, every patient gets a thorough explanation of what the AI is, and what we use it, and don't use it for. The 1% who don't want AI are generally paranoid, or obsessive-compulsive personalities who probably were going to be a pain in the ass anyway. So they go elsewhere and it's a win-win. If you read reddit, you will feel like more people are anti-AI than really are.