[Urgent] The AI Takeover of American Medicine Is Already Here
Imagine walking into your doctor’s office expecting a routine visit.
Instead, you’re told you have diabetes.
You’re devastated and your mind starts spinning with questions about what’s next.
Will you need medication? What other health complications will this cause?
The only problem? Your diagnosis is dead wrong.
Your diagnosis was made by an artificial intelligence (AI) system that confused hemoglobin with HbA1c – a blood test used to diagnose diabetes.
If you think that could never happen… well, it already did.
A physician who recently testified before the American Medical Association described this exact scenario… and the implications of letting AI control health decisions.
So how do you know if AI is involved in your health care?
And what do you do when there are no humans around to catch its mistakes?
These questions are becoming increasingly urgent because artificial intelligence is rapidly moving into every corner of American medicine.
This month, the AMA adopted a policy stating that physicians—not AI—must remain in charge of patient care decisions.
The AMA’s action comes as AI systems are rapidly moving beyond simple administrative tasks and into areas that directly affect patient care.
According to the discussion surrounding the policy, AI is already being tested for treatment recommendations, prescribing assistance, and other healthcare functions that were once the exclusively done by doctors.
In other words, the technology isn’t waiting for the rules. It’s already here.
While AI can review enormous amounts of medical literature in seconds, help physicians identify patterns, reduce paperwork, and spend more time with patients…
Medicine isn’t simply a math problem.
Patients are complex. Symptoms don’t always fit neatly into a database. And anyone who has spent time in a doctor’s office knows that sometimes the most important clues come from experience, intuition, and asking one more question.
Even the AMA acknowledged that AI should function as a tool that supports clinical judgment—not replaces it.
The concern is that healthcare systems are under tremendous pressure to cut costs and increase efficiency.
When administrators see software that can process information instantly, the temptation to rely on it grows stronger.
That’s why many experts worry that AI could gradually move from assisting doctors to quietly replacing some of what doctors do.
The real question isn’t whether AI will become part of medicine.
That train has already left the station.
The question is whether patients will still be able to find a real doctor when they need one.
Here at HSI, we’re not anti-technology. But we’re strongly pro-patient.
If you receive a diagnosis, recommendation, or test result that doesn’t seem right, speak up. Ask questions. Request that your physician double-check the information.
And when necessary, get a second opinion.
Because regardless of how advanced artificial intelligence becomes, one thing remains true:
Your health is too important to leave entirely in the hands of a machine.
To your health,
Ray Thatcher
Research Director, Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
Frieden, J. (2026, June 10). AMA adopts policy pushing back on AI creep in medicine. MedPage Today. https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/ama/121695
Crigger, E., & Khoury, C. (2019). Making policy on augmented intelligence in health care. AMA Journal of Ethics, 21(2), E188-E191. https://doi.org/10.1001/amajethics.2019.188
