Liability and risk management for defective expert systems

The use of medical expert systems brings the prospect of tort litigation when adverse care is delivered as a result of reliance on the system. A key issue is the distribution of responsibility between the person acting on the advice and the system manufacturer. It is suggested that to address this potential liability it is appropriate to apply risk management and system safety to the development, selection, and use of expert systems. This is based on the principle that safety requires the explicit application of procedures which identify hazards and address their elimination or control.<>