Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

ChatGPT Health

openai.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 677 posts

Re: ChatGPT Health

#111

Post by Traubenfuchs »

fnoef wrote: post #65

I’m kind of torn on this. From one side, I can’t seem to trust doctors any more. I recently had a tooth removed (by the advice of two different doctors), in a claim that it will resolve my pain, which it did not, and now 3 different doctors don’t know what’s causing my pain. Most doctor advice boil down to drink some water and take a painkiller, while glancing for 15 seconds at my medical history before they dedicate…

Doctors are usually just normal people that had the means, memory, drive and endurance to get through an exclusive education that will guarantee them a life in relative affluence and maximized adoration.

Connected thinking, interest in helping and extensive depth or breadth of knowledge in anything beyond what they need for their chosen specializations day to day work are rare and coincidental.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#112

Post by whalesalad »

jcmfernandes wrote: post #94
whalesalad wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most doctors - like most mechanics - are the worst debuggers in humankind. I once went to the UCSF er 2x in the same weekend for an issue. On day one, I was told to take some ibuprofen and drink water - nothing to worry about. I went home, knowing this was not a solution. Day two I returned to the ER because my situation had gotten 10x worse. The (new) doctor on day 2 said "we need to resolve this asap" and I was mov…

I have a very similar story. It went from ibuprofen and water to antibiotics the following day, to different antibiotics the next day, and finally to having my tonsils purged (i.e., cut open) with local anesthesia in 4 days. By this time I no longer could speak. It was the most pain I felt in my life. I still trust doctors, but this made me much more demanding towards them.

That (peritonsular abscess) was also the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. I was genuinely hoping a lightning bolt would come out of the heavens and kill me.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#113

Post by probably_wrong »

defphysics wrote: post #59

There’s a lot of negativity here. I’ll just say I’m extremely glad I had ChatGPT when I was going through some health issues last year.

I know someone who used ChatGPT to diagnose themselves with a rare and specific disease. They paid out of pocket for some expensive and intrusive diagnostics that their doctor didn't want to perform and it came out, surprise, that they didn't have this disease. The faith of this person in ChatGPT remains nonetheless just as high.

I'm constantly amazed at the attitude that doctors are useless and that their multiple years of medical school and practical experience amounts to little more than a Google search. Or as someone put it, "just because a doctor messed up once it doesn't mean that you are the doctor now".

Re: ChatGPT Health

#114

Post by azan_ »

glerk wrote: post #69
thisislife2 wrote: post #5

I pity the doctors who will now have to deal with such self-diagnosed "patients". Wonder if General Medicine doctors will see a drop in patient, as AI convinces you to see a specialist with its diagnosis?

I hope this puts at least some of the scam artists known as psychiatrists out of a job.

Quite contrary - it will give them much more work, I can guarantee.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#115

Post by i2oc »

I trust they considered the bias in medical research that exists in their training. I wonder if OpenAI will implement morbidity & mortality (M&M) rounds to learn from the mistakes and missed diagnosis.

Based on the reports of various failings on the safety front, I sure hope users will take that into account before they get advice to take 500g of aspirin.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#116

Post by schwarzrules »

I understand all the chatter about LLMs hallucinating, or making assumptions, or not being able to understand or provide the more human/emotional element of health care.

But the question I ask myself is: is this better than the alternative? if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help?

The answers I can anticipate are: questionably trustworthy web content; an overconfident friend who may have read questionably trustworthy web content; my mom who is referencing health recommendations from 1972. And as best I can imagine, LLMs are going to likely to provide health advice that's as good but likely better than any of those alternatives.

With that said, I acknowledge that people are likely more inclined to trust ChatGPT more like a licensed medical provider, at which point the comparison may become somewhat more murky, especially with higher severity health concerns.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#117

Post by timeon »

schwarzrules wrote: post #116

I understand all the chatter about LLMs hallucinating, or making assumptions, or not being able to understand or provide the more human/emotional element of health care. But the question I ask myself is: is this better than the alternative? if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help? The answers I can anticipate are: questionably trustworthy web content; an overconfident friend who may have read questio…

> if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help?

Is this serious question? Can't you call/visit doctor?

Re: ChatGPT Health

#118

Post by jofzar »

timeon wrote: post #117
schwarzrules wrote: post #116

I understand all the chatter about LLMs hallucinating, or making assumptions, or not being able to understand or provide the more human/emotional element of health care. But the question I ask myself is: is this better than the alternative? if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help? The answers I can anticipate are: questionably trustworthy web content; an overconfident friend who may have read questio…

> if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help? Is this serious question? Can't you call/visit doctor?

I'm Australian, but from what I understand from my friends in America, no.

They only go when it's urgent/very worrying.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#119

Post by throwaway314155 »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #111
fnoef wrote: post #65

I’m kind of torn on this. From one side, I can’t seem to trust doctors any more. I recently had a tooth removed (by the advice of two different doctors), in a claim that it will resolve my pain, which it did not, and now 3 different doctors don’t know what’s causing my pain. Most doctor advice boil down to drink some water and take a painkiller, while glancing for 15 seconds at my medical history before they dedicate…

Doctors are usually just normal people that had the means, memory, drive and endurance to get through an exclusive education that will guarantee them a life in relative affluence and maximized adoration. Connected thinking, interest in helping and extensive depth or breadth of knowledge in anything beyond what they need for their chosen specializations day to day work are rare and coincidental.

> Doctors are usually just normal people that had the means, memory, drive and endurance to get through an exclusive education that will guarantee them a life in relative affluence and maximized adoration.

Is that all?!

Also, everyone is just “normal people” in aggregate.

Re: ChatGPT Health

#120

Post by zdragnar »

jofzar wrote: post #118
timeon wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if I wasn't asking ChatGPT, where would I go to get help? Is this serious question? Can't you call/visit doctor?

I'm Australian, but from what I understand from my friends in America, no. They only go when it's urgent/very worrying.

If you don't need to be physically seen to make a determination, most hospitals and networks operate phone lines where you can speak with a nurse who will triage symptoms and either recommend home remedies or an appointment as needed.

I'm not sure if this has switched entirely to video calls or not, but when it became popular it was a great way to avoid overloading urgent care and general physicians with non-urgent help requests.

Post reply on HN