The Health/Medicine Shelf

The Doctor and the Algorithm
S. Scott Graham
Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016-4314
www.oup.com/us
9780197644461, $49.95, HC, 264pp

https://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Algorithm-Promise-Future-Health/dp/0197644465

Synopsis: For years, technologists and computer scientists have promised an=
AI revolution that would transform the very basis of how we imagine and ad= minister modern medicine. AI-driven advancements in medical error rates, di= agnostic accuracy, or disease outbreak detection could potentially save tho= usands of lives. But health AI also carries the potential for exacerbating = deep systemic biases if left unchecked.

With the publication of "The Doctor and the Algorithm: Promise, Peril, and = the Future of Health AI", Professor S. Scott Graham has combined insights d= rawn from science and technology studies, critical algorithm studies, and p= ublic interest informatics to better understand the promise and peril of he= alth AI.

"The Doctor and the Algorithm" draws on case studies in automated diagnosti= cs, algorithmic pain measurement, AI-driven drug discovery, and death predi= ction to investigate how health AI is made, promoted, and justified. It als=
o explores the enthusiastic promises of health AI marketing communication a=
nd medical futurism while also analyzing the inequitable outcomes new AI te= chnology often creates for already marginalized communities. Finally, "The = Doctor and the Algorithm" closes with specific recommendations for regulato=
ry frameworks that might support more ethical and equitable approaches to h= ealth AI in the future.

Interweaving textual analysis and original informatics, "The Doctor and the=
Algorithm" offers a sobering analysis of the promise of medical AI against=
the real and unintended consequences that deep medicine can bring for pati= ents, providers, and public health alike.

Critique: A seminal and groundbreaking study that is timely, well written, = impressively informative, exceptionally thought provoking, and enhanced for=
the reader with the inclusion of an eight page Technical Appendix, twenty = four pages of Notes, a sixteen page listing of References, and a six page I= ndex, "The Doctor and the Algorithm: Promise, Peril, and the Future of Heal=
th AI" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, m= edical school, college, and university library Health/Medicine and AI colle= ctions and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for st= udents, academia, members of the medical profession, and non-specialist gen= eral readers with an interest in the subject that "The Doctor and the Algor= ithm: Promise, Peril, and the Future of Health AI" is also available in a d= igital book format (Kindle, $25.49).

Editorial Note: S. Scott Graham (http://sscottgraham.com) is Associate Prof= essor in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas =
at Austin. He has written extensively about communication in health science=
and policy. He is also the author of The Politics of Pain Medicine (Univer= sity of Chicago Press, 2015) and numerous articles in journals ranging from=
the Journal of Medical Humanities and Rhetoric of Health & Medicine to Plo= s-One and the Annals of Internal Medicine. His research has been reported o=
n in The New York Times, US News & World Report, Science, Health Day, AI in=
Health Care, and Scientific Inquirer.

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