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AI and healthcare ethics in the Gulf Region: Islamic perspectives on medical accountability
2024

AI and healthcare ethics in the Gulf Region: Islamic perspectives on medical accountability

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare has fundamentally revolutionized the medical landscape, impacting areas such as electronic medical records (EMR), imaging, laboratory diagnostics, treatment methodologies, drug discovery, the provision of preventative and precision medicine, and the extensive analysis of biological data. Despite the significant progress in integrating AI into healthcare practices, there are many challenges to the ethical management of these technologies. Even with its role in community health improvement, not all societies have equal access to this technology. Ethical dilemmas, issues related to privacy and data protection, obtaining informed consent, addressing social disparities, considerations of medical consultation, and the aspects of empathy and sympathy, pose various challenges in the integration of AI. Therefore, prior to incorporating AI into healthcare systems, practitioners and specialists should carefully weigh the application against the four principles of medical ethics: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice across all aspects of healthcare. There are also undeniably plural religious ethical standpoints to the ethical issues surrounding AI in healthcare. The main, overarching issue being that algorithms are not transparent, and the replacement of human decision making and accountability with machines and AI. Many of these algorithms are designed to save money, which doesn’t necessarily equate to saving lives. This report, in addition to emphasizing the ethical challenges associated with the use of AI in healthcare, will provide policy recommendations for the regulation of these processes to ensure that medical practice remains ethical and equitable.

The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare has fundamentally revolutionized the medical landscape, impacting areas such as electronic medical records (EMR), imaging, laboratory diagnostics, treatment methodologies, drug discovery, the provision of preventative and precision medicine, and the extensive analysis of biological data. Despite the significant progress in integrating AI into healthcare practices, there are many challenges to the ethical management of these technologies. Even with its role in community health improvement, not all societies have equal access to this technology. Ethical dilemmas, issues related to privacy and data protection, obtaining informed consent, addressing social disparities, considerations of medical consultation, and the aspects of empathy and sympathy, pose various challenges in the integration of AI. Therefore, prior to incorporating AI into healthcare systems, practitioners and specialists should carefully weigh the application against the four principles of medical ethics: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice across all aspects of healthcare. There are also undeniably plural religious ethical standpoints to the ethical issues surrounding AI in healthcare. The main, overarching issue being that algorithms are not transparent, and the replacement of human decision making and accountability with machines and AI. Many of these algorithms are designed to save money, which doesn’t necessarily equate to saving lives. This report, in addition to emphasizing the ethical challenges associated with the use of AI in healthcare, will provide policy recommendations for the regulation of these processes to ensure that medical practice remains ethical and equitable.

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Dr. Mohammed Ghaly

Mohammed Ghaly is currently professor of Islam and Biomedical Ethics, Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics (CILE) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar. In 1999, he did Islamic Studies in English at al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt and got his bachelor degree with Cum laude. In 2002, he got his M.A. degree in Islamic studies also with cum laude from Leiden University, the Netherlands and in 2008 he got his PhD degree from the same university. During the period 2008-2013, Ghaly was faculty member at Leiden University with main focus on Islamic Law and Ethics. Since 2011, Ghaly is faculty member of the Erasmus Mundus Program; the European Master of bioethics jointly organized by a number of European universities. In 2012, Ghaly was awarded the prestigious VENI grant (2012-2016) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to do research on “Islam and Biomedical Ethics”. During his academic career, Ghaly developed a wide range of research interests and academic publications within the field of Islamic studies including Islamic theology, Islamic law and (biomedical) ethics. Besides his book Islam and Disability: Perspectives in Theology and Jurisprudence (Routledge: 2010), Ghaly published in reputable journals in the fields of both Islamic studies and bioethics including Islamic Law and Society – Journal of Religion, Disability and Health – Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science and Bioethics. Ghaly is the guest-editor of the two thematic issues on “Islam and bioethics” published respectively by Zygon (September 2013) and Bioethics (February 2014).

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