AI Scribe
by Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq.
Ai Scribes Enticing
But...
Use of AI (artificial intelligence) scribes or generative AI is very enticing to many clinicians. The “scribe” listens in the background to the interchange between clinicians and patients and then produces comprehensive documentation in a matter of minutes.
No more staring at a computer screen and punching away at keyboards while talking with patients!
No more struggling to complete documentation on a timely basis after visits with patients!
The use of this technology is spreading rapidly. In fact, it may be the fastest-adopted medical technology of all time!
From clinicians’ point of view, what could go wrong?
Clinicians are discovering, however, that writing clinical notes is a vital step to arrive at an accurate diagnoses and/or appropriate plans of care.
Here is what Helen Ouyang says in The New York Times Magazine, July 12, 2026:
“For a while, after I started using the scribe, my role in creating the …note seemed simple: read the draft, correct what was wrong, sign it. So fast, so easy.”
But then...
“…the process began to discomfit me, as a I slowly realized that editing a note I did not create does not demand the same of me as writing a note. I was no longer thinking through the interaction with a patient and the meaning of the information I had gathered from the visit…
This distinction seemed small at first. Over time, though, I have come to see how much of my own thinking had been bound up in the writing process itself.”
Ms. Ouyang goes on to say:
“The process of note-writing helps me formulate decision-making and then check whether it really holds up. If I find myself trying too hard to explain away a patients’ symptoms, trying to hard to dismiss a worrisome vital sign, trying too hard to fit an abnormal result into a reassuring narrative, then maybe I need to revise my conclusions….”
Unsettling changes
According to Ms. Ouyang, there’s something else, too. What also unsettles her is that the interaction no longer feels quite like what healthcare, at its heart, is supposed to be i.e. an intimate exchange between two humans. The sick room should be able to hold fear, shame and guilt, to shelter things people say in the depths of illness.
“But when every word is being recorded, no matter that the recording stays confined to a machine something feels diminished. There is, or ought to be, something close to sacred in such moments.”
Final Thoughts
The provision of care also depends on exchanges between clinicians. Documentation generated by AI makes it more difficult to tell what colleagues really think.
And clinicians should always bear in mind that AI is not foolproof. AI may, for example, introduce new diagnoses, for example.
Like many other things, AI may prove to be a mixed bag rather than the answer to the never-ending story of complete, accurate timely documentation.
# # #
Elizabeth Hogue is an attorney in private practice with extensive experience in health care. She represents clients across the U.S., including professional associations, managed care providers, hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health agencies, durable medical equipment companies, and hospices.
©2026 Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq. All rights reserved.
No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without the advance written permission of the author.
©2026 by The Rowan Report, Peoria, AZ. All rights reserved.
