Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: notesfiles
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!hplabs!hp-pcd!uo-vax1!novick
From: novick@uo-vax1.UUCP (novick)
Newsgroups: net.ai
Subject: Re: Liability
Message-ID: <58300001@uo-vax1.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Oct-84 16:20:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uo-vax1.58300001
Posted: Fri Oct 12 16:20:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Oct-84 04:22:23 EDT
References: <12818@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: Univ of Oregon - Eugene, OR
Lines: 32
Nf-ID: #R:sri-arpa:-1281800:uo-vax1:58300001:000:1642
Nf-From: uo-vax1!novick    Oct 11 12:20:00 1984

/***** uo-vax1:net.ai / sri-arpa!Laws@SRI-AI.ARPA /  2:01 pm  Oct  6, 1984*/
From:  Ken Laws 

Just as damning as using an incompetent [software] advisor is
failing to use a competent one.  If a doctor's error makes you a
cripple for life, and if he had available (and perhaps even used)
an expert system counceling a better course of treatment, is he
not guilty of malpractice?  Does the doctor incur a different
liability than if he had used/not used a human consultant?

The human consultant would normally bear part of the liability.
Since you can't sue an expert system, do you sue the company
that sold it?  The programmer?  The theoretician who developed
the algorithm?  I'm sure there are abundant legal precedents for
all of the above.

For anyone with the answers to the above, here's an even more
difficult problem.  Systems for monitoring and interpreting
electrocardiograms are commonly adjusted at the "factory" to
match the diagnostic style of the purchasing physician.  Suppose
that the doctor requests that this be done, or even does it
himself.  Suppose further that he is incompetent at this type
of diagnosis (after all, he's buying a system to do it for him),
and that customization to match his preferences can be shown to
degrade the performance of the software.  Is he liable for operating
the system at less than full capability?  I assume so.  Is the
manufacturer liable for making the adjustment, or for providing
him the means of doing it himself?  I would assume that also.
What are the relative liabilities for all parties?

                                        -- Ken Laws
/* ---------- */