Becker’s Healthcare Podcast AI in Spine Surgery: Preserving Clinical Judgment in a Data-Driven Era
Mar 28, 2026
Morgan P. Lorio, MD, FACS, spine and hand surgeon and past ISASS president, speaks on AI's rising role in spine care and policy. He explores risks to clinical judgment, the need for physician-led governance, and how AI can reshape medical knowledge and workflows. Short, sharp takes on choosing questions, preserving nuance, and keeping human oversight in data-driven care.
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AI Enhances Analysis But Risks Eroding Preoperative Judgment
- AI excels as an analytical tool but risks eroding clinical judgment when it sits inside everyday devices and systems.
- Morgan P. Lorio warns that the highest-value spine surgeon work happens before incision — integrating imaging, biomechanics, comorbidities, expectations, and risk tolerance.
Keep Physicians In The Loop For Governance
- Maintain physician oversight and governance as AI embeds in care pathways to ensure complex patients are treated, not just algorithmic cases.
- L'Oreal emphasizes surgeons-in-the-loop so physicians can recognize when a patient doesn't fit the algorithmic pathway.
Reframing The Question Revealed Hidden Mortality Trend
- L'Oreal asked an AI whether cancer incidence changed after COVID and got a superficial answer showing little change in incidence.
- By reframing the question to mortality, he uncovered a ~16% increase, illustrating how question choice alters AI outputs.