I believe you're right about the blame issues. I came here to post about that.
One other wrinkle... Having an algorithm strictly following rules and procedures to the T means that we're taking moral/human decision making out of the mix. This matters in situations where two different diagnoses may have the same treatment, but different outcomes on the patient's livelihood aside from their health. E.g., a human doctor may note that a tumor is just big enough to be considered cancerous, but marks it down as "pre-cancerous" in their official diagnosis. The treatment is still the same, but it keeps the more serious diagnosis off the patient's record, which can help them when dealing with insurance.
One follow-up argument to this may be that humans would have the final say in a given diagnosis, but I bet this wouldn't always be the case, particularly in lower income scenarios.
The final question to me is if the risk of the loss of moral agency outweighs the risk for incorrect diagnosis. I think there's going to be variance in the machine/human accuracy rates, and the need for a deeper understanding of the human condition.
One other wrinkle... Having an algorithm strictly following rules and procedures to the T means that we're taking moral/human decision making out of the mix. This matters in situations where two different diagnoses may have the same treatment, but different outcomes on the patient's livelihood aside from their health. E.g., a human doctor may note that a tumor is just big enough to be considered cancerous, but marks it down as "pre-cancerous" in their official diagnosis. The treatment is still the same, but it keeps the more serious diagnosis off the patient's record, which can help them when dealing with insurance.
One follow-up argument to this may be that humans would have the final say in a given diagnosis, but I bet this wouldn't always be the case, particularly in lower income scenarios.
The final question to me is if the risk of the loss of moral agency outweighs the risk for incorrect diagnosis. I think there's going to be variance in the machine/human accuracy rates, and the need for a deeper understanding of the human condition.