alt Hacker NewsThis, 100%, and I'll add (apologies in advance for bringing AI into this): In an era of extremely accessible and competent language models, you have no excuse not to use one to verify your doctor's (or any hired professional's) work. AI won't replace a professional but can spot mistakes, suggest solutions, educate you on a topic, and, most importantly!, has all the time in the world for you, something your doctor doesn't.
Case in point - just last month: To bring my LDL further down, I was prescribed a doubling of my existing statin dosage. I checked with an LLM and it turns out it's a crap idea, as doubling only weakly increases the effect, while the unwanted impacts on the body increase. Supplementing the existing dosage with bempedoic acid or Ezetimbe would be a way better strategy. I brought this up with the doctor, who immediately agreed it's a better idea and changed my prescription.
It's your body, your health, your future, your loved ones, your home, your career, your investment, your savings. If you care, check the work, the tools exist and are now ridiculously accessible.
> In an era of extremely accessible and competent language models, you have no excuse not to use one to verify your doctor's (or any hired professional's) work [...] the tools exist and are now ridiculously accessible
Well I certainly have an excuse: at work, code reviews provided by a particular LLM have been a net negative contribution, in my judgement. And then it's not hard to extrapolate that experience to other professions, ones that I myself am not competent in.
The old adage exists where you read the Sunday newspaper, get a nice educative experience from 14 out of the 16 pages, but then 2 pages happen to write about your own profession, and you seethe about the rampant stupidities and mischaracterizations in those 2 pages. But the other 14, about stuff you are not directly familar with, sound good. See the problem?
You got lucky because your doctor was receptive to ideas from sources other than his own brain (LLM or otherwise). Most medical professionals laugh you (or curse you) out of the room, if you attempt to make an informed decision. In fact the most selective search criterion for doctors, as a patient, is willing to talk.