Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming healthcare, bringing new tools and efficiencies to the field. However, its growing role in end-of-life care presents significant ethical concerns. AI is increasingly being used to automate guidance for advance care directives, but there’s a risk that these systems may lead patients toward decisions they don’t truly want. Without the right safeguards, AI could assume patient preferences in critical situations, resulting in choices that don’t align with individual desires.
As efforts to control healthcare costs intensify, particularly in elderly and end-of-life care, AI’s use in making cost-effective decisions could come at the cost of patient autonomy. This is where human-centered tools, like MIDEO’s video-based advance care plans, become crucial. By enabling patients to clearly express their wishes in a personalized way, these plans ensure that patient preferences are honored, even in complex medical situations where AI may be involved.
In an era where AI’s influence is growing, maintaining control over your healthcare decisions is more important than ever. Ethical AI implementation, combined with patient-focused planning, is the key to protecting autonomy in the face of advancing technology.
For more information on MIDEO s role in preserving patient choice, visit.
Dr. Ferdinando Mirarchi, DO, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of USACS MIDEO, LLC
Dr. Ferdinando Mirarchi
Ferdinando Mirarchi, DO, is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of USACS MIDEO, LLC. He has recently been appointed to the Chairman position of the National Palliative Care Committee for USACS.
Dr. Mirarchi is the Principal Investigator of the TRIAD Research Series (The Realistic Interpretation of Advance Directives). The results of his TRIAD research have been featured in the NY Times, Washington POST, Boston Herald, and many more nationally syndicated outlets. The TRIAD research has confirmed that there is a new nationwide and global patient safety risk related to confusion surrounding living wills, DNR POLST orders. His TRIAD research has also set the foundation for the development and utilization of a state of the art, evidence-based patient safety solution called MIDEO (My Informed Decision on VidEO). MIDEO has been structured to be both a Video Advance Directive and portable Physicians Medical Order that is prescriptive, clarifies existing documents and retrievable in seconds.
Dr. Mirarchi serves as a reviewer for many nationally peer review scientific journals such as CHEST and JAGS as well as is an Editorial Board Member for Patient Safety Magazine. He is the author of Understanding Your Living Will; What You Need to Know before a Medical Emergency, published by Addicus Books. He is a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and a fellow of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.
Previously he served as the Medical Director of the UPMC Hamot Emergency Department in Erie, Pennsylvania, and was the Chief of Emergency Services for UPMC’s Northern Tier of Emergency Services and also served as the Chairman of the UPMC Hamot Physician Network Governance Council.