Medical Economics spoke with health care attorney Tatiana Melnik, J.D., about vendor contracts, patient consent and the malpractice questions physicians could face next.
News|Articles|July 20, 2026
Who's really liable when your AI scribe makes a mistake?
Author(s)Richard Payerchin
What physicians need to know to begin considering malpractice liability with new artificial intelligence technology.
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An ambient artificial intelligence (AI) scribe is software that listens to a patient visit and automatically drafts a clinical note. They have moved from novelty to near-standard equipment in primary care in just a few years. They save time, ease documentation burden, and can improve how physicians engage with patients during the visit. But they also raise a question that many physicians haven't fully worked through: When an AI-generated note contains an error, who bears the legal and financial consequences?
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