Inside AI malpractice law: A conversation with Sara Gerke

Artificial intelligence (AI) is already reshaping how medicine is practiced — and how liability is defined when things go wrong. In this in-depth conversation, Sara Gerke, associate professor of law at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Law and Corman Scholar, explains how the legal landscape is evolving as AI systems take on greater clinical responsibility.

Gerke discusses where liability currently falls when AI contributes to patient harm, why most physicians still carry the legal burden and how labeling, disclosure and documentation practices could help clarify accountability.

She also outlines how professional societies and regulators — from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to medical boards — can provide guidance to protect both patients and clinicians.

“Right now, we’re in a transition zone,” Gerke says. “AI isn’t yet part of the standard of care, but it may soon be. The key is equipping physicians with the knowledge and training to use these tools responsibly — and ensuring the law evolves to share responsibility fairly.”

Gerke's discussion with Medical Economics builds on her extensive research on health care law, AI and digital health. Her work is published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Annals of Surgery Open and Emory Law Journal, among other leading medical and scientific journals, where she explores how AI is redefining medical ethics, product liability and health law across the U.S. and Europe.

This conversation accompanies Medical Economics' in-depth story, "The new malpractice frontier: Who's liable when AI gets it wrong?"