Can You Sue for Malpractice if Your Doctor is Using AI?
Ragain & Clark August 29, 2025
Almost overnight, it seems like we can’t do anything without artificial intelligence (AI) offering to “help.” If you want to type a message, AI gives you suggested words. When you visit a website, chatbots immediately appear, offering to solve your problems. If you get in your car, AI anticipates where you want to go and recommends a route with the least traffic delays.
Whether you embrace the assistance or reject it, there is seemingly no getting away from the potential to have AI take on a task you once did on your own. So, what happens when doctors use AI instead of relying on their ability to apply their knowledge through the use of their own experienced reasoning skills? We’ve all heard stories about AI relying on fictitious information to reach a result, so this technology is certainly not infallible. Does that mean it’s considered malpractice if a doctor uses it?
The answer depends on the situation. A Montana medical malpractice lawyer can review the circumstances in your case to determine if the use of AI gives rise to a legal claim, but here are some of the factors that could affect your case.
Prevailing Standards
When determining whether a doctor or other healthcare professional has committed medical malpractice in Montana, courts examine the standard of care that should have been applied in a particular situation and whether the person accused of malpractice met that standard. Key issues, then, in a medical malpractice case involving AI would be how reasonable medical professionals would use AI in a similar situation and how that compares with the use of AI in the case at issue.
The American Medical Association has identified numerous potential problems and risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence in medical practice. There have been recommendations that doctors not rely solely on AI results, particularly in cases where results can be influenced by bias in the system or information produced by electronic hallucinations. Industry professionals have stated that AI should support but not replace the judgment of medical professionals.
How Was AI Used in Your Situation?
As part of the analysis of potential malpractice involving the use of AI, you need to consider how the doctor or other medical professional used AI in your case, and whether that use was confirmed by their own reasoned analysis or accepted without verification. Currently, physicians and other healthcare professionals are using AI for tasks such as:
- Analyzing electrocardiogram data to detect arrhythmias, ischemia, and other heart abnormalities
- Monitoring patients’ vital signs
- Triaging data from devices used to monitor patients remotely
- Detecting and locating cerebrovascular abnormalities through EEG analysis
- Analyzing retinal images to identify diabetic retinopathy
- Detecting and classifying features on imaging exams
Additionally, the AMA reports that more than half of the physicians surveyed used AI to reduce “administrative burdens.” The wide variety of tasks performed by AI increases the likelihood of problems for patients if AI does not perform as expected.
When the Use of AI Contributes to Malpractice
A few years ago, medical professionals noticed that AI systems were making medical recommendations that contradicted traditional standards. There was concern that if physicians followed these recommendations, it could lead to greater malpractice liability for professionals and medical facilities that employ them.
A study was conducted and reported by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in 2021 showing that when AI recommendations aligned with standard care protocols, the use of AI could potentially reduce a physician’s liability for medical malpractice. However, that was not the case when AI recommendations went against standard practices.
When a physician or other medical professional uses AI merely to supplement the application of their knowledge, skill, and attention, then it would be difficult to argue that the use of AI constitutes negligence. However, when a professional uses AI as a shortcut and skips traditional assessments, it is quite possible to argue that the reliance on AI indicates a failure to provide the appropriate level of care under the circumstances, which could be considered negligence. Similarly, if a medical professional relies on AI recommendations when those contradict standard practices and the provider’s professional analysis, that could provide grounds to argue that the provider was negligent in not seeking additional information or opinions.
When Medical Malpractice Leads to Injuries or Untimely Death, We Fight for Justice
At Ragain & Clark, we’ve been working to hold medical professionals and hospitals accountable for decades. We know that sometimes, the medical industry pressures professionals to cut corners to save time, and the patients can suffer terribly as a result.
If you were injured or a loved one suffered an untimely death because of any type of medical negligence, we invite you to call us at 406-651-8888 or contact us online now to find out how we can work to get the compensation you deserve.
