AI scribe invents drug use in Australian patient's record

Rebecca Green, an Australian patient who consented to an AI scribe transcribing her first appointment with a urologist in March 2026, only learned it had invented a history of drug use when she read the post-operative letter after kidney stone surgery.

"I was gobsmacked and in tears … it made up that I take [psychedelic] mushrooms," Green told the ABC. "I have never done mushrooms in my life."

Her urologist could not explain where the phrase came from and attributed it to a transcription error. The apology letter read: "Please be assured that we take the accuracy of our documentation very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this occurred."

This kind of fabrication is not obscure to clinicians using the tools. Sean Stevens, a Perth GP and chair of the RACGP's Digital Health and Innovation committee, said the errors can be as basic as flipping the body: "The classic is, it will get the side of the body incorrect and say right when you've said left."

The RACGP estimates about 40 percent of Australian GPs use AI scribes regularly, a figure it considers conservative. None have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which has acknowledged some products may already be in breach of the law by offering clinical suggestions beyond simple transcription.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Elizabeth Deveny said patients struggle with the follow-up: "People report both frustration in finding the original source of the error and then getting the record changed." Lisa Robins of Patients Australia argued all scribes should be regulated because summarising a patient's visit still involves decision-making by AI.

Green, for her part, is not opposed to the technology: "I love AI … but the essential ingredient is the human."