AI in Medicolegal Practice [Conference Reflections]

Last weekend's Medicolegal Society of Queensland Annual Conference provided an absolute feast of knowledge and insights for this medical expert!

I attended for the first time, and each session was full of really valuable and practical content. Of particular interest was the discussion about the use of AI in medicolegal practice. It was evident that there were still concerns expressed from both medical experts and legal practitioners about the use, despite an overall recognition that the use of AI would become inevitable.

I have been researching ways that incorporating AI into my medicolegal practice may improve productivity and possibly improve the speed at which I can turn reports around for my clients. I seem to share the same concerns as my colleagues about using AI and privacy. I have looked at "closed" AI software programs that don't upload data to the cloud, but I do remain concerned about privacy.

Of interest was the discussion about the destruction of transcripts that occurs with some technology and whether this would constitute a breach of the Health Records Act, in that health data would be destroyed. There was another interesting comment made as to whether transcripts of assessments would constitute evidence that could be subpoenaed as part of a legal process.

We were directed to look at instructions from different jurisdictions regarding making disclosures as part of our preambles if we used generative AI in any way when preparing our reports. We were informed that in some cases, we would need to seek permission from the relevant court prior to using the technology in any way. Very experienced legal professionals mentioned they include a request as part of their Letter of Instruction to declare that we have not used generative AI in any way in preparing the report.

There was consensus that AI technology was galloping along at a rapid rate, and the conversation we were having now would be different to the one we were likely to be having in a few conferences' time. Despite that though, there was agreement that AI technology would eventually take over some medical and legal roles, but the human element in the loop must not be avoided.

I suppose I did leave the conference with more questions than answers around this topic, but I am more understanding that incorporating AI technologies into medicolegal practice is a lot more complicated than using it in clinical practice. The intersection of medical and law and the governing laws and guidelines about professional practice in both sectors fuels that complexity, something that needs to be clarified for when AI becomes more of everyday practice.

Are you using AI technology at all within your medicolegal practice?