#1147 Charlotte Blease - Dr. Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us―and How AI Could Save Lives

Sep 8, 2025

In a captivating discussion, Charlotte Blease, an interdisciplinary health researcher, dives into the pressing issue of medical errors, now the third leading cause of death in the U.S. She sheds light on the systemic challenges that lead to misdiagnosis and emphasize the role of AI in potentially transforming patient care. Blease also explores the dynamics between patients and AI, revealing how technology can empower patients while also reshaping the doctor-patient relationship. Her insights call for a rethinking of medical education and the integration of technology in healthcare.

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INSIGHT

Scale Of Medical Error

Medical error is a leading cause of death and kills hundreds of thousands annually in the U.S.
Charlotte Blease compares its scale to repeated airplane crashes that don't make headlines.

INSIGHT

Common Causes Of Medical Error

Diagnostic errors, medication mistakes, and communication breakdowns drive many medical errors.
System pressures and junior doctor handoffs amplify these risks but don't fully explain them.

INSIGHT

Clinician Burnout Harms Patients

Burnout, depression, and long hours severely impair doctors' performance and increase errors.
Studies link clinician depression to a six-fold rise in medication errors and elevated suicide rates among physicians.

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Dr. Charlotte Blease is an interdisciplinary health researcher at the Department of Women's and Children's Health at Uppsala University, Sweden, and the Digital Psychiatry Division at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at the Harvard Medical School. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and a winner in 2012 of the UK-wide BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers Competition. Dr. Blease has written extensively about the ethics of placebo and nocebo effects. Her research has been profiled by international news outlets including The Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Sydney Morning Herald. Her latest book is Dr. Bot: Why Doctors Can Fail Us―and How AI Could Save Lives.

In this episode, we focus on Dr. Bot. We start by talking about medical error, whether doctors are essential, barriers in accessing medicine, and symptom denial. We discuss which are the better interviewers: doctors or computers. We talk about the limitations of doctors in diagnostics and treatment, and whether AI can do better. We discuss whether AI can be biased. Finally, we talk about the role that AI can play in medicine.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, BERNARDO SEIXAS, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, HEDIN BRØNNER, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ALEX CHAU, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, VALENTIN STEINMANN, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, LUCY, MANVIR SINGH, PETRA WEIMANN, CAROLA FEEST, MAURO JÚNIOR, 航豊川, TONY BARRETT, NIKOLAI VISHNEVSKY, STEVEN GANGESTAD, TED FARRIS, HUGO B., JAMES, JORDAN MANSFIELD, CHARLOTTE ALLEN, PETER STOYKO, DAVID TONNER, LEE BECK, PATRICK DALTON-HOLMES, NICK KRASNEY, RACHEL ZAK, AND DENNIS XAVIER!

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