The pitch for medical AI is that it frees clinicians to care for patients. Two stories this week suggest the reality can run the other way. In New York, nurses say software replaced them. In Minnesota, a former Mayo Clinic leader says the software was not safe to trust.
Marilyn Shuler spent 39 years reading patient charts at Montefiore hospital in the Bronx. This month she was one of a dozen nurses laid off, replaced by AI software that does part of the same job, their union says.
The nurses handled utilization review. They read charts and argue with insurers over what care gets covered. The New York State Nurses Association says the layoffs broke a contract the nurses had just won through a strike, the Guardian reported.
“It should also concern every practitioner and patient who cares about… the quality of care they receive,” said Shaiju Kalathil, a Montefiore nurse and union representative. Montefiore disputes the account. It calls the union’s claims “inaccurate and misleading”, and says the change involves a nonclinical, paperwork programme.
What the whistleblower saw
