Case letter 2: 2045

Many fear that the use of Al, intelligent robots and intelligent algorithms in the health-care industry will turn health care into a more mechanical and cold experience for users. However, we take the opposite view. What turns health care into a mechanical and impersonal system is not so much the technology, but when doctors and nurses stare at computer screens avoiding contact with patients. We believe that the new technology will facilitate conditions for creating a more humane and caring health-care system based on human values. One might ask: how can a cold machine based on artificial intelligence transform health care into a more humane and caring system rather than what was described in Case Letter 1? The answer is twofold.

First, doctors, nurses and other health-care personnel will have more time for patients when intelligent robots can take care of administrative and secretarial functions. Of course, this ‘extra time’ may pose a problem, if it is left up to the economists to calculate this as a productivity gain, instead of using the extra time gained for other functions. If this happens, then we will not have made any progress in terms of making the meeting between health-care professionals and patients more caring and humane. It will therefore be necessary for health-care professionals and politicians to seize the opportunity provided by the new technology to create the communication needed to facilitate a more holistic meeting between patients and health-care personnel.

Second, intelligent robots will be able to more effectively predict the various side effects and possible treatments of these, than any surgeon is able to (Topol, 2019). The reason is that surgical procedures can cause various side effects. An intelligent robot will be able to more quickly and accurately monitor a patient regarding central parameters than any doctor or surgeon, for example during and after a knee operation. One such case, when a surgeon failed to help a patient after a knee operation, is shown by Eric Topol (2019: 44-56). If the patient described by Topol, who is actually Topol himself, had access to an intelligent robot, the discomfort and pain inflicted on the patient by sheer ignorance on the part of the physician would most probably have been avoided. There are countless examples in hospitals where the knowledge exists, but where the doctors do not have the opportunity to apply the knowledge because it is very specialized. The consequences are often that patients have to suffer unnecessarily from the effects of various illnesses; in the worst cases, such incompetence can even lead to death. By using intelligent robots, this lack of knowledge can be transformed into practical knowledge, which doctors will be able to use.

We are fully aware of the fact that all the shortcomings in the health-care industry cannot be solved by using advanced technology, but it is certainly a beginning to gain knowledge about possible unexpected developments, so that we can intervene at an early stage. It has already been shown that artificial intelligence in the healthcare industry has led to considerable medical advances. Regarding the future use of Al, Topol (2019), who is himself a doctor, says that it will be qualitatively better than the assessments made by doctors in all medical procedures. Al will be used to diagnose where doctors say it is not possible to make a diagnosis. With the help of Al, it will be possible to treat diseases doctors do not know how to treat. Al will be able to identify patterns in data where doctors can only see data. Intelligent robots will be able to predict a patient’s development, where no physician is able to.