The epistemic virtues of harnessing rigorous machine learning systems in ethically-sensitive domains

Thomas F Burns

Abstract: Some physicians, in their care of patients at risk of misusing opioids, use machine learning (ML)-based Prediction Drug Monitoring Programmes (PDMPs) to guide their decision-making in the prescription of opioids. This can cause a conflict: a PDMP score can indicate a patient is at a high risk of opioid abuse while a patient expressly reports oppositely. The prescriber is then left to balance the credibility and trust of the patient with the PDMP score.