EU Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for Patients’ Rights

In order to create a well-functioning internal market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, the European Commission recently proposed the Artificial Intelligence Act. However, this legislative proposal pays limited attention to the health-specific risks the use of AI poses to patients’ rights. This article outlines that fundamental rights impacts associated with AI such as discrimination, diminished privacy and opaque decision-making are exacerbated in the context of health and may threaten the protection of foundational values and core patients’ rights. However, while the EU is facilitating and promoting the use and availability of AI in the health sector in Europe via the Digital Single Market, it is unclear whether it can provide the concomitant patients’ rights protection. This article theorizes the Europeanization of health AI by exploring legal challenges through a patients’ rights lens in order to determine if the European regulatory approach for AI provides for sufficient protection to patients’ rights.

In 2021, the European Commission proposed the Artificial Intelligence Act. In her recent article for Common Market Law Review, Hannah van Kolfschooten expresses concerns about this legislative proposal with regard to patients’ rights. The aim of the proposed act is to create a well-functioning internal market for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. However, Van Kolfschooten argues that limited attention is paid to the health-specific risks the use of AI poses to patients’ rights. She states that fundamental rights violations associated with AI are exacerbated in the context of health and may threaten the protection of patients’ rights. While the EU is facilitating and promoting the use and availability of AI in the European health sectors, it remains unclear whether it is simultaneously able to protect patients’ rights against the risks that the use of AI poses.

Please cite as: Hannah Van Kolfschooten, ‘EU regulation of artificial intelligence: Challenges for patients’ rights’, (2022), 59, Common Market Law Review, Issue 1, pp. 81-112.