Technology
How AI Is Affecting the Way Doctors Treat Patients
Do Doctors Today Still Do Manual Diagnosis of Patients?
For those of you who have read a few of my articles, you will know by know that I’m a fan of Prime Video. Their original content is definitely note worthy but I tune in for their oldies content such as House. During an episode, one of the doctors said if only the blood sample was examine by human eyes, they would have figured out what was wrong with the patient sooner, rather than trying a million different treatment before realizing it was a parasite problem.This got me to thinking. How accurate is this depiction in real life?
Earlier this year, I had a similar experience where I went to the hospital for a simple sore throat and fever. You would think it was simple but I've learned the hard way that doctors often push for the most complicated and outlandish reason as to why a person is ill rather than the simple one that is literally in front of their eyes. So there I was, high fever and all being admitted to the hospital for 3 whole days. In those three days, I managed to loose five pounds since my throat hurt so bad I couldn’t eat anything. I kept telling my doctor, the nurses, the doctor on call, the person who brought me my medicine that they are giving me every single medicine under the sun to keep my fever at bay except one, a medicine to cure my sore throat. I was unheeded of course being a civilian and not having gone to medical school for a decade like these fine physicians. Finally on the second day I snapped and I firmly told my doctor “I’ve been telling you since day one that my throat hurt! Until now you keep focusing on my fever which is a symptom of my throat issue without actually trying to heal my throat. If you heal my throat inflammation, then my body would not be having a fever trying to kill whatever bacteria or virus is in there”. I guess the effect of having a woman in her pajamas sweating with a husky voice did the trick, my doctor prescribed me antibiotics for my throat and the next day I felt so much better.
At first I didn’t think anything of this until I saw that episode of House. Then all of the sudden everything clicked. This explained so much why my illness was not being properly treated for days. And why despite numerous expensive blood tests everything came back negative and why, at the end of my stay, when I was being discharged, I was given the exact medicine that I was allergic to, while still wearing my allergy bracelet from the hospital that had the name of the medicine I was allergic to. The only thing that can make sense of all of this wasn’t excessive sheer incompetence. It was because my doctor relied to heavily on machines and AI for my diagnosis. My lab work most likely went through a machine for screening and results. Not only that, my diagnosis was probably put through some sort of machine where I’m sure the course of medication was clearly plotted out, this would explain why despite me repeating to several staff what medication I was allergic to, I was still given the medication I’m allergic to take home. It was only after I re-alerted the nurse of my allergy, I was then given another medication.
I was still given the medication I’m allergic to take home, while still wearing my allergy bracelet from the hospital that had the name of the medicine I was allergic to.
This horrific ordeal made me realized that the advancement of technology is not making people’s lives better, it’s actually putting all of us in more danger since manual diagnosis and logical thinking are no longer part of the treatment equation. Lab tests are highly computerized. Machines and apps are now able to be used to diagnose your symptoms and give suggestions on what illnesses you have and what course of treatment is best for that illness.
Doctors seem to have been lulled by technology that they are now doing the bare minimum. What is going on with today’s medical professionals? Are medical professionals relying too much on technology? I’m a firm believer that sometimes the best answer is the simplest answer. If a patient comes to you with symptoms of sore throat and not being able to swallow then she has a high fever, odds are she really does have a sore throat. If the simple treatment doesn’t work, then move on to the next stage. Nobody should be using a nuclear bomb to kill an ant in your backyard.
This is why we should not depend on technology when it comes to the survival of the human race, there are limits to AI. The hint is in the first letter A which stands for Artificial. This means artificial intelligence can only calculate, process and predict based on information that has been give previously on an incident which has occurred. According to this article from Harvard University, Artificial Intelligence in medicine is indeed limited. Despite the fact that today, AI algorithms are dependent on in everyday life, many things happen for the first time, best example of this is the COVID-19 pandemic, which is similar to the Spanish Flu and yet more deadly. Viruses, microbes and bacteria keep evolving, we can’t rely on past learning to cure future illnesses because mother nature apparently is a comedienne and never repeats the same joke twice. Which is why in the field of medicine, the human brain is the best defense and offense that humanity has. We have been given the gift of free thought, intelligence and creativity which is beyond the capability of any machine or artificial intelligence. So if doctors today are leaning towards technology to diagnose and treat the majority of illnesses, then mankind truly is doomed.
