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I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

antoine.fi

451–460 of 748 posts

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#451
post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyone who doesn't understand this is an idiot imo I don’t think that’s true. Avoiding this mistake requires knowing that an ultrasound may not detect calcification. For a patient reading their own report, I don’t think that’s intuitive. I would expect most people to read “no calcifications” and assume that their joint has no calcifications.

Most people should have learned at a young age that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. My 8 year old understands this. After all, you can rarely ever prove something does not exist, only that it is unlikely to exist. If a report states that X was not found, it does not mean X did not exist, it means it was not found. What may be lost on the layperson is the nuance and understanding of how thorough or not…

This is - by far - the most stupid stuff I've read on the internet the past few days. They didnt find cancer either (as well as a plethora of diseases that could be related to the symptoms), and afaik its not in the report.

Yah you can argue that the tool is not ideal for that diagnostic, yadda yadda. I get it, and in the end I agree with the subtle difference you highlight, because it is something that makes sense to a certain kind of people. You know how many medics would read the report exactly like the author did? Too many.

How do I know? Im not in a wheelchair after being constantly misdiagnosed by using the wrong imagiology technique by (mostly) chance, and a good help from friends, including a surgeon. This seems to be a case where AI would be a valuable doctor tool for differential diagnosis; instead we have know-it-alls that can't bother to verify, and AI that often gets details wrong. That is the problem.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#452
post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyone who doesn't understand this is an idiot imo I don’t think that’s true. Avoiding this mistake requires knowing that an ultrasound may not detect calcification. For a patient reading their own report, I don’t think that’s intuitive. I would expect most people to read “no calcifications” and assume that their joint has no calcifications.

Most people should have learned at a young age that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. My 8 year old understands this. After all, you can rarely ever prove something does not exist, only that it is unlikely to exist. If a report states that X was not found, it does not mean X did not exist, it means it was not found. What may be lost on the layperson is the nuance and understanding of how thorough or not…

It's like when finding out about the sex of your baby via ultrasound before they're born. If you're told it's a boy, you can be pretty certain you're getting a boy. If you're told it's a girl, you shouldn't get too attached to the idea. The ultrasound tech might just have missed the evidence your baby was a boy.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#453

Hey OP my wife had a subscap tear and went through with surgery. Recovery was ROUGH, she couldn’t use that arm at all for almost two months. It’s amazing how much this can cripple a person, we don’t realize how much we use both our hands for our daily lives until one is gone. Even basic stuff like cooking, bathing, etc. If you can avoid surgery you should. Try doing the Buckburger 12 (spelling?) shoulder physiotherap…

I do powerlifting and couple years ago, I developed bicep tendinitis on my right arm. Even a tiny bit of weight on it while palm facing up would cause crazy pain. It was funny how I weight from lifting heavy weights to not even being able to carry a plate of food, not being able to press soap dispensers, or give a spot to someone at the gym. Even a tiny injury can severely cripple us.

Same, sprained my wrist/forearm a while back and couldn't rotate it without pain or take any weight palm up. Couldn't even rotate a door knob.

It wasn't until I pushed through with weights, avoiding any underhand grips or rotation, that it started getting better. Doing bicep curls but keeping the thumb up strengthened the forearm to the point where I was back to the weights I was lifting and could then gradually add some rotation.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#454

> There's something incredibly peaceful about being in the hands of an expert you trust. [...] AI can absolutely shatter that feeling in an uncomfortable way [...] but I don't know if I can fully trust AI either. This really is key. We know we can't trust the AI, but at the same time we're also more comfortable asking the AI for clarifications or confronting it. Not having a time-bound appointment or paying by the ho…

You only got 3 opinions on your car? Why not 50? You could have found a more useful signal by getting more information.

I get it - getting an opinion from a mechanic is time consuming. Not true of AI though.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#455

> There's something incredibly peaceful about being in the hands of an expert you trust. [...] AI can absolutely shatter that feeling in an uncomfortable way [...] but I don't know if I can fully trust AI either. This really is key. We know we can't trust the AI, but at the same time we're also more comfortable asking the AI for clarifications or confronting it. Not having a time-bound appointment or paying by the ho…

The soothing sound of ChatGPT telling us how right and clever we are…how could it possibly hallucinate, certainly not 5.5

You’ve really honed in on the key issue. This is exactly how keen hackers news commenters approach this.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#456
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nightmare because they're always right and the A.I second guessing is always wrong, or because they just don't like to be second guessed?

There’s more than two options here. It was already difficult to deal with self diagnosis for doctors, now we have a machine that outputs recommendations, and does it with confidence whether it’s correct or not. The same issues that were present with search-engine self diagnosis are still present with LLMs. If you provide Google with an incomplete list of symptoms and can’t interpret the information you find correctly…

Everyone on the internet loves to put doctors on a pedestal, but I think upwards of 30% of my doctor visits have been misdiagnosed.

There's a reason I ask AI about absolutely everything medical and there's a reason I keep extra quantities of prescription medications around for emergencies. I've saved my own ass a lot more times than the doctors have, thanks to good doctors not being available.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#458
post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great, an article about Llama 2 from early 2025. That doesn’t at all invalidate what I said.

While completely ignoring the fundamental reason. Whoosh.

Not sure what point you’re trying to make.

Re: I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI

#460
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nightmare because they're always right and the A.I second guessing is always wrong, or because they just don't like to be second guessed?

There’s more than two options here. It was already difficult to deal with self diagnosis for doctors, now we have a machine that outputs recommendations, and does it with confidence whether it’s correct or not. The same issues that were present with search-engine self diagnosis are still present with LLMs. If you provide Google with an incomplete list of symptoms and can’t interpret the information you find correctly…

The A.I is only gonna get better , and fast. Doctors should simply double check themselves by using A.I.
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