Projekt

In healthcare, respect for patient autonomy is a key concern and is fulfilled by informed consent. Due to certain diseases capacity to give informed consent may be impaired or non-existent. Physician in charge has the duty to assess the patient's decisional capacity. Several assessment tools exist. But the tools are building on patients cognitive and verbal abilities (emotional abilities are neglected). Beside that physician's subjective factors also may influence the assessment. The project raises the question of whether artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to compensate for the weaknesses of the assessment tools and the subjective bias of the physician within the assessment procedure. Until now, there are no efforts in the field of AI to overcome the limitations in assessing patient's decisional capacity. First, the project aims for building up an interdisciplinary network of scientists in order to work out the weaknesses and restrictions associated with an assessment about a patient's decisional capacity. Second, the project will entail an empirical pre-study with focus groups. As result, third, the project will write a full grant proposal regarding the question of whether and how transferring these findings into AI systems will be technically possible and socially, politically, legally as well as ethically desirable.

• Prof. Dr. Karsten Weber

  Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule
  Regensburg (OTH)
  Fakultät Angewandte Sozial- und
  Gesundheitswissenschaften
  Institut für Sozialforschung und Technik-
  folgenabschätzung, Labor für Technikfolgen-
  abschätzung und angewandte Ethik
  Regensburg