Written by Dr William Maish
As digital health accelerates, diagnostic AI systems increasingly cross borders without clear oversight. A tool can be designed in one jurisdiction, trained in another, and used by patients in a completely different regulatory environment.
My recent legal scholarship examines:
• the tension between State sovereignty and extra-territorial human rights obligations
• gaps in current AI diagnostic regulation
• the limitations of soft-law frameworks (WHO, UNESCO, OECD)
• how contestation between jurisdictions is driving real regulatory innovation
• the need to align domestic safety standards with global AI behaviour
This culminates in a three-pillar model for rights-based governance: domestic enforcement aligned with global benchmarks, extra-territorial due-diligence obligations, and Indigenous data-sovereignty frameworks to ensure equity in health AI.
Read more with: Global Patients, Fragmented Laws: Bridging the Governance Gap in AI Diagnostics (Journal of Law and Medicine)
Medly and Future Research Directions
Medly’s development is grounded in structured clinical logic, evidence-based triage design and ethical AI use. While the forthcoming clinical trial is currently under ethics consideration and not active, the broader research principles guiding Medly are already shaped by my published work:
• transparent digital decision pathways
• responsible AI integration
• equitable access to care
• structured symptom-to-diagnosis reasoning
• rigorous safety-net design in telehealth workflows
Medly aims to move beyond legacy telehealth models by embedding clinical logic, risk stratification, and safety architecture into the platform itself. These concepts will underpin future research initiatives as Medly evolves from prototype to national service.
My research sits within a single overarching frame: modern healthcare must be both clinically rigorous and systemically intelligent. Whether examining venous physiology, neuroanatomical variation, rare cancers or AI governance, the goal is always practical—understand the mechanism, reduce uncertainty, and build safer pathways for patients.
For media, academic collaboration or research enquiries, please get in touch.
If you want to understand how this informs what we do at Medly and why we do it, check out Medly, my publications & my current research.
Written by Dr William Maish
MD MBA MPH FHEA JD (in prog.)
Found of Medly & Medly Health
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