Responsibility, second opinions and peer-disagreement: ethical and epistemological challenges of using AI in clinical diagnostic contexts

In this paper, we first classify different types of second opinions and evaluate the ethical and epistemological implications of providing those in a clinical context. Second, we discuss the issue of how artificial intelligent (AI) could replace the human cognitive labour of providing such second opinion and find that several AI reach the levels of accuracy and efficiency needed to clarify their use an urgent ethical issue. Third, we outline the normative conditions of how AI may be used as second opinion in clinical processes, weighing the benefits of its efficiency against concerns of responsibility attribution. Fourth, we provide a ‘rule of disagreement’ that fulfils these conditions while retaining some of the benefits of expanding the use of AI-based decision support systems (AI-DSS) in clinical contexts. This is because the rule of disagreement proposes to use AI as much as possible, but retain the ability to use human second opinions to resolve disagreements between AI and physician-in-charge. Fifth, we discuss some counterarguments.

The Effects of School Starting Age: A Case of Primary School Students in Vietnam

Many parents have the mentality that they want their children to study well and outperform their peers, therfore, they have a lot of expectations and investments in their children from an early age. The children have a busy childhood with a tight schedule of extra classes, from giftedness to English, etc. Parents are free to show off to friends and relatives that they know a lot and are wise before their age. This matter has become not only an argumentation between parents but also an unsolvable problem for the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam. Therefore, it is a serious issue to determine how much preparation is enough for children to start elementary schools. Two main opinions have been given out: the first opinion points out that children need to study before starting elementary schools while the second opinion is contrary to the first one. The paper is done by searching, collecting and summarizing the information on magazines, newspapers and the internet which is related to the topic and analyzing the statistics collected from students currently studying at some schools in two weeks.

Digital Pathology Transformation in a Supraregional Germ Cell Tumour Network

Background: In this article we share our experience of creating a digital pathology (DP) supraregional germ cell tumour service, including full digitisation of the central laboratory. Methods: DP infrastructure (Philips) was deployed across our hospital network to allow full central digitisation with partial digitisation of two peripheral sites in the supraregional testis germ cell tumour network. We used a survey-based approach to capture the quantitative and qualitative experiences of the multidisciplinary teams involved. Results: The deployment enabled case sharing for the purposes of diagnostic reporting, second opinion, and supraregional review. DP was seen as a positive step forward for the departments involved, and for the wider germ cell tumour network, and was completed without significant issues. Whilst there were challenges, the transition to DP was regarded as worthwhile, and examples of benefits to patients are already recognised. Conclusion: Pathology networks, including highly specialised services, such as in this study, are ideally suited to be digitised. We highlight many of the benefits but also the challenges that must be overcome for such clinical transformation. Overall, from the survey, the change was seen as universally positive for our service and highlights the importance of engagement of the whole team to achieve success.