Category: Digital Health Law
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How the Parliament’s AIDA Report Misdiagnoses the Risks and Benefits of Health AI
In November 2021, the European Parliament’s Special Committee on AI in a Digital Age (AIDA Committee) put forward its draft report on artificial intelligence (AI) in a digital age. The report advocates for a very permissive approach to the regulation of AI to stimulate innovation and foster the competitiveness of the…
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The First steps in EU Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Algorithms and Patients’ Rights
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is becoming increasingly common. This development holds great promise for the quality and accessibility of healthcare, but is not without risks. On the one hand, AI has its advantages: it facilitates accurate diagnosis of patients and it makes it possible to hold e-consults.…
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Conspicuous by its Absence: Health in the European Commission’s Artificial Intelligence Act
Earlier this year, the European Commission published its long awaited legislative proposal on artificial intelligence (AI): the Artificial Intelligence Act. With the proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, the European Commission has taken the first steps towards uniform rules on AI in the EU. The act aims to take a balanced approach to regulating…
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Data Protection in Health Crises in the EU: Apps in the Battle against COVID-19
Mobile technology is increasingly being used to manage crisis situations, such as the corona pandemic. Apps process large quantities of personal data, which has consequences for the right to data protection. In the battle against COVID-19, millions of European citizens entrust Covid-apps with their sensitive personal data. To what extent…
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Privacy Harmonisation in Times of Crisis
Hannah van Kolfschooten & Bastiaan Wallage On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entered into force. From then on, the lawfulness of processing personal data within the European Union has been harmonised. The right to personal data protection, an important part of the human right to privacy,…
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A Legal Perspective on Contact Tracing
Information for early detection of health emergencies can save lives. In the COVID-19 crisis, we see that national governments in the European Union (EU) turn to widespread surveillance and contact tracing in order to gather information on the spreading and risks of the virus. Contact tracing is the tracing of…
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From Saramago’s Blindness Epidemic to EU Health Law
My interest in health emergencies was sparked when reading Saramago’s novel Blindness at age 16. It tells the story of a sudden blindness pandemic afflicting nearly everyone and I loved every word. Since then, I’ve seen countless post-apocalyptic movies on pandemics, ranging from classic contagion to zombies. I’ve played the…
Hannah van Kolfschooten 