Should you double-check your doctor with ChatGPT? Yes, you absolutely should

India Today

28-07-2025

First, there was Google. Or rather Doctor Google, as it is mockingly called by the men and women in white coats, the ones who come in one hour late to see their patients and those who brush off every little query from patients brusquely and sometimes with unwarranted contempt.But there is a new foe in town, and it is only now that doctors are beginning to realise it. This is ChatGPT, or Gemini, or something like DeepSeek, the AI systems that are coherent and powerful enough to act like medical guides. Doctors are, obviously, not happy about it. Just the way they enrage patients for trying to discuss with them what the ailing person finds after Googling symptoms, now they are fuming against advice that ChatGPT can dish out.advertisementThe problem is that no one likes to be double-checked. And Indian doctors, in particular, hate it. They want their word to be the gospel. Bhagwan ka roop or something like that. But frustratingly for them, the capabilities of new AI systems are such that anyone can now re-check their doctor's prescription, or can read diagnostic films and observations, using tools like ChatGPT. The question, however, is: should you do it? Absolutely yes. The benefits outweigh the harms.
Let me tell you a story. This is from around 15 years ago. A person whom I know well went to a doctor for an ear infection. This was a much-celebrated doctor, leading the ENT department in a hospital chain which has a name starting with the letter F. The doctor charged the patient a princely sum and poked and probed the ear in question. After a few days of tests and consultations, a surgery — rather complex one — was recommended. It was at this time, when the patient was submitting the consent forms for the surgery that was scheduled for a few days later, that the doctor discovered some new information. He found that the patient was a journalist in a large media group, the name of which starts with the letter T.This new information, although not related to the patient's ear, quickly changed the tune the doctor was whistling. He became coy and cautious. He started having second thoughts about the surgery. So, he recommended a second opinion, writing a reference for another senior doctor, who was the head of the ENT at a hospital chain which has a name starting with the letter A. The doctor at this new hospital carried out his own observations. The ear was probed and poked again, and within minutes he declared, 'No, surgery needed. Absolutely, no surgery needed.'What happened? I have no way of confirming this. But I believe here is what happened. The doctor at hospital F was pushing for an unnecessary and complex surgery, the one where chances of something going wrong were minimal but not zero. However, once he realised that the patient was a journalist, he decided not to risk it and to get out of the situation, relied on the doctor at hospital A.This is a story I know, but I am sure almost everyone in this country will have similar anecdotes. At one time or another, we have all had a feeling that this doctor or that was probably pushing for some procedure, some diagnostic test, or some advice that did not sit well with us. And in many unfortunate cases, people actually underwent some procedure or some treatment that harmed them more than it helped. Medical negligence in India flies under the radar of 'doctor is bhagwan ka roop' and other nonsense.advertisementUnlike other countries where medical negligence is something that can have serious repercussions for doctors and hospitals, in India, people in white coats get flexibility in almost everything that they do. A lot of it is due to the reverence that society has for doctors, the savers of life. Some of it is also because, in India, we have far fewer doctors than are needed. This is not to say that doctors in India are incompetent. In general, they are not, largely thanks to the scholastic nature of modern medicine and procedures. Most of them also work crazy long hours, under conditions that are extremely frugal in terms of equipment and highly stressful in terms of demand.Yet, this is exactly why we should use ChatGPT to double-check our doctors in India. Because there is a huge supply-demand mismatch, it is safe to say that we have doctors in the country who are not up for the task, whether these are doctors with dodgy degrees or those who have little to no background in modern medicine, and yet they put Dr in front of their name and run clinics where they deal with most complex diseases.advertisementIt is precisely because doctors are overworked in India that their patients should use AI to double-check their diagnostic opinions and suggested treatments. Doctors, irrespective of what we feel about them and how we revere them, are humans at the end of the day. They are prone to making the same mistakes that any human would make in a challenging work environment.And finally, because many doctors in India — not all, but many — tend to overdo their treatment and diagnostic tests, we should double-check them with AI. Next time, when you get a CT scan, also show it to ChatGPT and then discuss with your doctor if the AI is telling you something different. In the last one year, again and again, research has highlighted that AI is extremely good at diagnosis. Just earlier this month, a new study by a team at Microsoft found that their MAI-DxO — a specially-tuned AI system for medical diagnosis — outperformed human doctors. Compared to 21 doctors who were part of the study and who were correct in only 20 per cent of cases, MAI-DxO was correct in 85 per cent of cases in its diagnosis.advertisementNo, none of this is to say that you should replace your doctor with ChatGPT. Absolutely not. Good doctors are indeed precious and their consultation is priceless. They will also be better with subtleties of the human body compared to any AI system. But in the coming months and years, I have a feeling that doctors in India will launch a tirade against AI, similar to how they once fought Dr Google.And they will shame and harangue their patients for using ChatGPT for a second opinion. When that happens, we should push back. Indian doctors are not used to questions, they don't like to explain, they don't want to be second-guessed or double-checked. And that is exactly why we should ask them questions, seek explanations and double-check them, if needed, even with the help of ChatGPT.(Javed Anwer is Technology Editor, India Today Group Digital. Latent Space is a weekly column on tech, world, and everything in between. The name comes from the science of AI and to reflect it, Latent Space functions in the same way: by simplifying the world of tech and giving it a context)- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Trending Reel