“Doctor Sahib, I am very upset since I learned that I have bowel cancer,” stated a young man of about 28 years who was pursuing an MBA at a local university.
Dr. Munawar Aziz
I asked him, “Who told you this, and what symptoms do you have?”
He replied, “Over the past week, I have passed blood in my stool twice. So, I searched the internet, and it revealed that I have bowel cancer.”
He was calmed down and i took his medical history. It turned out that there were only minor blood streaks in his stool due to constipation, which had alarmed him. He was advised to take a mild laxative syrup and to avoid junk food and white bread. Instead, he was recommended adding green salads, fruits, and vegetables to his diet to prevent constipation.
Relieved of his anxiety, he looked much more at ease after learning that he did not have cancer.
Quite often, patients visit my clinic after searching for their symptoms online and diagnosing themselves with very rare diseases. However, after taking their history and conducting a physical examination, it usually turns out to be a common and simple issue. As the saying goes, “Common things happen commonly, and rare things happen rarely!” One should not jump to diagnosing rare diseases without methodically ruling out common ones.
This brings me to the hot debate these days about AI (Artificial Intelligence) potentially replacing certain professions, including clinical medicine and, consequently, clinical doctors. In my opinion, there is no doubt that AI has made life easier in many fields, but as far as clinical medicine is concerned, the human touch cannot be replaced. A medical doctor’s face-to-face conversation with a patient, combined with a physical examination, reassurance, and consoling words, cannot be substituted by any gadget or AI tool.
I am not advocating against using AI, but it should be utilized by professionals in their respective fields.
A medical doctor, for example, can benefit from AI because they have studied the basics and encountered real-life patients. However, for a layperson with no medical background, relying on AI for a diagnosis can be confusing and misleading. The same principle applies to other professions.
Therefore, the next time you have a medical concern, consult your doctor instead of relying on search engines to avoid a misleading diagnosis.
- Dr. Munawar Aziz
Abbottabad, Pakistan.
aziz.munawar@gmail.com
