BEFORE YOU USE ANY “AI” FOR YOUR HEALTH PLEASE BE CARFFUL

My staff each have over 20 years of experience analyzing medical records and reviewing medical errors with specialists. Frankly, it takes a lot of work, and just as frankly, we recognize that it can be just as difficult for your doctor. But please consider this before you jump into using popular AI programs to diagnose your condition: THEY ARE WRONG AS MUCH AS THEY ARE RIGHT. That is, there is no standard for these programs, they are not trained like our professionals, and they are simply not reliable for many of the same reasons we have posted about people who have relied on ChatGPT and other AI programs for legal work.

In this short note, I want to direct you to a simple “test’ of the newer AI “health” programs performed not by us but as set out in a column in the multiple sites as well as the Washington Post. Their columnist linked his fitness tracker information and medical records to two programs- “ChatGPT Health” and “Claude for Healthcare.” Both gave incorrect and sometimes downright improper evaluations of this fellow’s health, but both gave those assessments with the attitude and appearance of being correct and authoritative. Here is the link to this one, but if you want to search it out yourself, there are many similar stories. https://9to5mac.com/2026/01/26/apple-watch-user-gave-chatgpt-health-his-data-with-troubling-results/

Another point to know before linking your private medical records to these AI programs is that they are not bound by any privacy rules. There are federal and state laws that protect the privacy of your health information, but they apply to health care providers and institutions. These rules do not apply to software that you willingly load your medical records to. No matter what the programmers say they will protect, they can share this without legal restrictions.

My office wants to encourage everyone to research their ideas and use these tools to improve your choices. But half-baked programs pretending to be authoritative are not good for any of us. Maybe the problem is over-selling? Maybe the problem is that programs based on the average of the average person’s opinions are simply not the way to practice medicine. We know it is very hard to find doctors you can trust these days, but...If you are unsure of a health or medical condition, do seek qualified medical advice. If the medical profession fails and injures your loved ones, then call us. We can back up our opinions.