Doctors give out wrong and bad advice all the time. Doctors in general make mistakes all the time to the point that there’s some alarming statistic about how preventable medical errors is a scary high percentage of deaths. People should absolutely question their doctors and get more opinions, and in a world where my last 10 minute doctor visit would have cost $650 without insurance, for a NP, I don’t blame them for trying to self diagnose.

Well.. funny you say that.. I did move to Tijuana some years ago. One time while I was there, I was sick and a neighbor (Mexican) seemed to insist that I go to the doctor. She recommended a hole in the wall office above a pharmacy that looked like a little-league concession stand.

It was a serious 30 something woman who collected something like 50 pesos (around $3), listened to me for about 30 seconds, and told me to make sure I slept and ate well (I think she specifically said chicken soup). I asked about antibiotics or medicine and she indicated it wasn't necessary.

So I rested quite seriously and ate as well as I could and got better about a week later.

During the time that I was in Playas de Tijuana I would normally go to nicer pharmacies though, and they didn't ask for a prescription for my asthma or other medicine which was something like 800% less expensive over there. They did always wear nice lab coats and take their job very seriously if I asked for advice. Although I rarely did that.

I do remember one time asking about my back acne problems at a place in the mall and the lady immediately gave me an antibiotic for maybe $15 which didn't cure it but made it about 75% better for a few months.

Another time at the grocery store I asked about acne medicine and the lady was about to sell me something like Tretinoin cream for a price probably 1/4 of US price. She didn't have anything like oral Accutane of course. It was just a Calimax Plus.

There are of course quite serious and more expensive actual doctors in Tijuana but I never ended up visiting any of them. I was on a budget and luckily did not have any really critical medical needs. But if I had, I am sure it would have cost dramatically less than across the border.

EDIT: not to say the concession-stand office lady wasn't an actual doctor. I don't know, she may have had training, and certainly had a lot of experience.

I live in the Dominican Republic. People here go to the doctor for things I never would have in the USA. If anything, people here self treat much less Than the USA, even though you can walk into any pharmacy or imaging center and ask for whatever you want.

They go to the doctor because the healthcare system here works, for the most part, and they value and respect the expert counsel in matters of their health.

What is your specialty?

I'm curious what you think the problem is, concretely, with a tool like this in the hands of the public which you clearly have such disdain for. Let's assume I buy this thing (the horror). I have to actually get access to my scans, which despite being legally required to provide most providers will be loathe to actually do. So I get my scans, I get this AI tool, I ask it some questions. It's definitely going to get some answers right, and it's very likely going to get some answers wrong. I'd be shocked if it's much less accurate than a resident, and if they're commercializing it there's a decent chance it's more accurate than the average experienced attending.

What is your doomsday scenario now that I have some correct data and some incorrect data? What am I going to do with that information that is so "unbelievably dumb" that I need the AMA to play daddy and prevent me from hurting myself? I can't get medication based on my newfound dangerous knowledge. I can't schedule a surgery or an IR procedure. I can't go into an ER and say "give me a cast here's a report showing I need one."