I arrived at the doctor today, and they handed me a tablet with a new agreement that they wanted me to sign at check-in. I looked at it, and one thing stuck out like a sore thumb.

According to the current Carilion General Consent to Treatment and Financial Agreement, part six: (emphasis mine)

6. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): Carilion Clinic may use Al tools to assist my healthcare providers. These tools may include, but are not limited to, software that assists decision-making, records information, or helps prepare documentation for my healthcare providers to review and approve. Any data used or recorded by Al tools will be kept in accordance with federal and state privacy requirements.

When I asked the person at check-in if I was going to be denied treatment if I refused, she stated, “Oh, don’t worry, they just use that for dictation.”

I then told her, “Well, that paragraph has me sign away a whole lot more than just allowing a tape recorder in the room. That decision-making portion feels really bad.” I then asked again, “Does this mean I can’t get treatment if I don’t sign?”

Her response was to call someone else, and in the end, she ultimately got the response that we could print out the document, draw a line through the portion I disliked, initial it, and they would scan that in, noting that I disagreed with the AI portion.

Please be sure to read your forms given to you by anyone asking for your signature, and make very sure what they are saying is the same thing that is in writing.