Scenario two
Healthcare Delivery Revolution
How AI, software platforms, and robotics could lead to a revolution in the delivery of healthcare
Our second scenario imagines a world in 2035 in which developments in AI, software platforms for managing healthcare, and robotics lead to a wholesale change in the way in which healthcare is delivered. This change in landscape gives patients more control over the provision of their healthcare, particularly in diagnostics and monitoring. This significantly changes the way in which they engage with the healthcare system.
Doctors are faced with increasingly complex AI-powered technologies designed to support them in their daily work. Their training evolves to include how they can interact with these systems and understand where their expertise should be applied to question and override, including where robots are deployed either in surgery or in more day-to-day interactions.
During this technology revolution, new disputes arise, with many centred around the responsibility for decision-making. The context for the following scenario is real; the scenario itself is hypothetical.
The business impact of the healthcare delivery revolution
Starting the conversation
New AI and robotics technologies and software platforms will transform how healthcare is delivered. This will have significant implications for businesses and create new cross-jurisdictional operational and legal challenges concerning litigation, product liability, intellectual property, data privacy, and consumer advertising.
A uniform 'one-size-fits-all' approach is no longer sustainable. To safeguard enterprise value and pursue growth opportunities, businesses will need tailored legal strategies, informed by both local expertise and a clear global framework.
Innovation meets litigation
As our second scenario illustrates, advances in technology have the potential to lead to litigation.
Due to the complexity of AI-driven technology, the question arises of who is responsible for the results of AI devices and software which cause personal injury. Potential legal questions include:
How au fait will doctors and other healthcare providers be expected to be with the technology to be able to apply their clinical judgement to outputs from the technology to avoid potentially injurious effects?
Are adverse outcomes for patients always likely to be blamed on the technology rather than the user?
What standard would be applied for AI?
Would the software developer be more liable?
Would product liability be strict or is fault required? Is that fair and appropriate?
Will consumer use of apps and software platforms mean that they, rather than a 'caring' GP, will take responsibility for ensuring that they don't come to harm? How will this apply to people who are technically or mentally unable to make the necessary assessments to take on this responsibility?
How will causation and loss be determined?
Patent wars
As AI applications in healthcare technology continue to develop, intellectual property law will be tested rigorously in future. Businesses must protect their innovations but also understand the extent of different legal protections in different jurisdictions.
Strategic enforcement of patent rights remains a valid path to securing exclusivity and competitive edge. With rapid innovation and high financial stakes, the IP battleground is set to intensify. Patent lawyers with qualifications in computing and AI are needed to support the intense litigation that underpins the fierce competition to be the premier technology in particular healthcare applications.
With the Unified Patent Court, litigation risk in Europe has dramatically changed. One case can now cover 19 countries. Clients need to understand what that means for them.
Amanda Ebbutt Partner, Patents and Innovation, UK
Data privacy and security
Looking ahead, data privacy and security, and disruptive technological innovation, feature in the top five areas where respondents anticipate the greatest increase in disputes. Cyber security and data management stands out as a major legal focus, receiving the second-highest share of disputes budgets allocated by business leaders.
Key areas of risk
Commercial litigation
Ever-evolving regulation in different jurisdictions, and a surge in cross-border disputes over insurance, patents, and supply chain contractual obligations, lead to a jump in commercial litigation.
Fraud
Businesses face strong pressure to secure subsidies, meet strict compliance standards, and attract investment as they seek to survive and thrive in a volatile market. In this environment, deceptive claims about how AI-enabled HealthTech works, product safety, and licensing credentials all spur fraud cases and investigations.
Bribery
Due to the need for companies to engage more closely with hospitals and healthcare providers on the use and continued monitoring of AI-enabled technologies and the increasingly competitive market, inappropriate and unlawful relationships take root. White collar crime lawyers are needed to sensitively handle investigations and regulatory reporting as well as negotiations with regulators to reduce potential fines.
Arbitration
Businesses involved in HealthTech developments increasingly take part in a complex international web of collaboration in research, development, and production. This makes arbitration a highly attractive forum for swifter – and confidential – solutions to resolve conflicts, often on a cross-border basis.
Class actions
New developments see the launch of class actions and collective redress by communities and consumer groups harmed by apps and health technologies rolled out directly to consumers, as well as those used in hospitals.
Consumer advertising
Wild claims are made to consumers about how new technology might benefit their health. Companies enter the market with unregulated devices, but advertise them using clinical claims, meaning that these devices are categorised as medical devices. Regulators react with strong penalties.
Product liability
The safety expectation for AI-driven HealthTech is high and failures lead to extensive product liability claims from consumers targeting multiple defendants including manufacturers, importers, software developers, and programmers. Overpromises for robotics and safety concerns also lead to product liability claims.
Commercial litigation
Ever-evolving regulation in different jurisdictions, and a surge in cross-border disputes over insurance, patents, and supply chain contractual obligations, lead to a jump in commercial litigation.
Fraud
Businesses face strong pressure to secure subsidies, meet strict compliance standards, and attract investment as they seek to survive and thrive in a volatile market. In this environment, deceptive claims about how AI-enabled HealthTech works, product safety, and licensing credentials all spur fraud cases and investigations.
Bribery
Due to the need for companies to engage more closely with hospitals and healthcare providers on the use and continued monitoring of AI-enabled technologies and the increasingly competitive market, inappropriate and unlawful relationships take root. White collar crime lawyers are needed to sensitively handle investigations and regulatory reporting as well as negotiations with regulators to reduce potential fines.
Arbitration
Businesses involved in HealthTech developments increasingly take part in a complex international web of collaboration in research, development, and production. This makes arbitration a highly attractive forum for swifter – and confidential – solutions to resolve conflicts, often on a cross-border basis.
Class actions
New developments see the launch of class actions and collective redress by communities and consumer groups harmed by apps and health technologies rolled out directly to consumers, as well as those used in hospitals.
Consumer advertising
Wild claims are made to consumers about how new technology might benefit their health. Companies enter the market with unregulated devices, but advertise them using clinical claims, meaning that these devices are categorised as medical devices. Regulators react with strong penalties.
Product liability
The safety expectation for AI-driven HealthTech is high and failures lead to extensive product liability claims from consumers targeting multiple defendants including manufacturers, importers, software developers, and programmers. Overpromises for robotics and safety concerns also lead to product liability claims.
The AI HealthTech boom is not only accelerating innovation, but also widening the legal frontier. Companies need to navigate a fast-changing, cross-border legal landscape which brings opportunity on the one hand but heightened exposure and disputes risk on the other.
Katie Chandler Partner, UK Head of Disputes and Investigations, London
