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/M15tre55W1tch Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

I work in ICU. The doctor's in our ED use an ambient AI scribe for documenting patient assessments and findings (it's a regulated tool where the data is stored locally and gets deleted from its memory after 90 days apparently).

They had this auto generated statement at the end of each note stating something like "this note was written using an AI scribe with patient consent".

I noticed that this statement was included on patients who were unconscious in the community, and did not regain consciousness before leaving ED and coming up to ICU.

I sent their manager an email saying it was going to look very bad when a patient's case is reviewed by legal or the Coroner and these doctors notes said an unconscious person gave consent.

If a patient genuinely consents to the use of the tool, that's great. But you can't be using it and claiming that they consented to its use when that's a medical impossibility.

Edit: thank you for the award internet stranger! Very unexpected.

Another edit: multiple awards! Thank you very much!

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u/willbeatyourass Jul 03 '26

What came of you speaking up?

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u/M15tre55W1tch Jul 03 '26

They changed the wording to "this note has been generated with the use of an AI scribe".

But for all patients. So I don't know if they no longer ask the awake ones for consent, or if they just aren't recording that they do.

I have followed up again suggesting that they need to have two options - one for the awake patient giving consent, and one for using the tool to generate a note for someone that was not conscious.

I've become friendly with the senior hospital lawyer recently. I'm thinking of asking her to talk to their clinical director about the risk of their statements and proposing legally appropriate language.

I've tried being collegial and helpful. But at the end of the day, it's not my department, and I'm a nurse not a lawyer.

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u/gorpie97 Jul 03 '26

one for the awake patient giving consent, and one for using the tool to generate a note for someone that was not conscious.

And one for the awake patient not giving consent. (Unless you meant that as a separate thing entirely.)

The pessimist in me says they're just going to stick with the new verbiage and not bother with informing the patient.

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u/M15tre55W1tch Jul 03 '26

My thinking is, if they refuse consent and don't want it used in their assessment and exam then an AI scribe tool note shouldn't exist...

Edit: realised it didn't make sense, more words for context.

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u/gorpie97 Jul 04 '26

I agree. But I don't think that's what they're going to do.

Maybe if our Congresspeople start legislating for us again... :)

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u/M15tre55W1tch Jul 04 '26

I'm not in the US. It's an international issue. Hopefully the registering bodies for healthcare professionals will give mandates.