CCBI News: Benefits and Risks of AI in Health Care and Well-Being

May 30, 2025

Dear Friends of CCBI,

Benefits and Risks of AI in Health Care and Well Being

The use of AI is accelerating progress in health care fields, where vast amounts of collected data are enabling researchers using machine learning to make swifter and more accurate diagnoses and predictions. Many would agree that the most important matter beyond speed and accuracy is patient outcomes – how successful are the diagnoses and recommended treatments for patients obtained in this way? As in any other field, long-term studies in health care matters are the most reliable, but the sheer speed of machine work means that ‘long-term’ itself may take on a different meaning, and treatments may become available faster than before while still proving to be reliable.

University Health Network (UHN), Toronto, now has in place an “AI scientist,” a medical doctor leading a team in developing AI projects. He noted in The Globe and Mail, that an important first step was to make sure that the language model used by machines is accurate in its understanding of medical terminology, in order to be as clinically accurate and helpful as possible. Dr Bo Wang noted that his team has “… developed AI algorithms that can help cardiologists and surgeons to segment – divide images into multiple parts to provide the most precise imaging – when viewing organs on CT scans, MRIs or echocardiograms.” The emphasis is on precision and accuracy, obviously necessary for good health care outcomes, but with a hope of even more precision and applicability together with faster turn-around times.

Among many examples available, one cardiologist uses AI to analyze thousands of different proteins in the heart to discover markers that might indicate the possibility of heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalization in Canada. The team uses a machine learning model that analyzes proteins in the heart and can show which of them might predict rehospitalization or recovery in people with heart failure. This gives doctors more patient-tailored information to decide on the best treatment regime for that patient.

Another AI-driven project is currently attempting to discover the risk of rupture of aortic aneurysms in patients who present with such ruptures in the main artery leading out of the heart. AI is being used to interpret patients’ cardiac MRI and CT scans with the hope of more accurate predictions of outcomes for these patients individually.

Concerns are often raised that health care will lose its ‘human’ touch with so much reliance on AI and machines, but most doctors and staff using AI welcome it as a tool to help them achieve better results for patients. That, after all, is the major goal of medicine: to restore and improve health and well-being as far as possible. This humanitarian goal can be served by methods that are more efficient while being more accurate, resulting primarily in patient benefit but also in helping hospital budgets in terms of planning costs of length of stay in hospital, etc.

Mammograms With Added Benefit for the Heart

Science Daily (March 20, 2025) reported that mammograms, with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) models, may reveal much more than cancer. According to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiologists annual scientific session, they can also be used to assess the calcium buildup in arteries within breast tissue. In other words, mammograms contain more information than that necessary to detect tumours and direct treatments for cancer: they may also have potential to indicate cardiovascular problems.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that middle-aged and older women have a mammogram every one or two years, resulting in about 40 million mammograms in the United States alone, each year. While breast artery calcifications can be seen on the resulting images, this is not usually reported to women or their physicians. The new study, which used an AI image analysis technique not used in mammograms before shows how AI can analyze breast arterial calcification and use the results to predict cardiovascular risk. This dual analysis is an example of data found in one project that will be of important use for progress in another field, thus improving efficiency and reducing costs in both. The human element is, of course, the truly important element: vast numbers of women will be able to obtain relevant information pertaining both to breast and heart health, which will help treatment decisions for their overall health care.

French Bishops at Notre Dame, Paris, Speak Out Against Legalizing Euthanasia

Canada is becoming used to discussions about euthanasia and assisted suicide, and a level of acceptance or resignation sometimes develops over time, as other political, legal, religious and moral issues gradually overshadow reporting and information in the media. The importance of respect for life at all stages, however, never weakens in Catholic teaching, and struggles in other countries where Catholic teaching is challenged remains relevant, demanding our prayer and support. 

A debate over the legalization of euthanasia is currently in process in France, and a special vigil was recently held in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the vigil, Auxiliary Bishop Emmanuel Tois urged Catholics not only to pray but also to take concrete action, saying, “There are many ways and places where Christians can become more engaged.” He encouraged the faithful to write to their lawmakers and engage in dialogue with those around them, and this advice still holds for all of us who respect life, even when our laws allow and encourage euthanasia.

In his homily, Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris denounced what he called the illusion of a “soft, chosen death.” He was clear that people should be aware of the manipulation of terminology in these debates: for example, in Canada, euthanasia is called ‘assistance in dying,’ as opposed to ‘assistance to end one’s life,’ the latter phrase being more accurate. He stated: “It is by twisting the meaning of words that we want people to accept this perspective” and he pointed out the inconsistency of calling such a death ‘natural,’ when it results from a voluntary act.

Archbishop Ulrich continued: “Calling the gesture that kills or the word that leads to it fraternal help” is likewise manipulative, as is invoking a right to die when death is already an inescapable fact. He referred to another dramatic inconsistency in this debate, a concern also for those who work in suicide prevention groups, saying euthanasia is being proposed while “… for decades and still today we have been multiplying driving regulations to avoid fatal accidents on the road, or to protect our brothers and sisters from desperate and suicidal gestures.”

We pray that his words and those of the Church at large will have a great effect in countering the many movements today that promote euthanasia as a right or a good and that they will help people see through ‘inconsistencies,’ encouraging us to promote life until its natural end. 

Sources

How AI is helping predict who is at risk for stroke and heart failure – The Globe and Mail
chief AI scientist in bid to improve health care – The Globe and Mail
AI-powered mammograms: A new window into heart health | ScienceDaily 
French bishops lead prayer vigil at Notre-Dame amid euthanasia debate – Catholic World Report

The Pope’s Prayer Intention for May 2025
For working conditions:

Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfillment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized.

Moira and Bambi