My Doctor’s Bedside Manner

Image of a man texting his AI doctor.

Last Updated on September 29, 2024 by Tom Kane

What do you say to your doctor when he or she gives you some bad news. Stand up, wave your arms around and shout the place down? Go numb? Smile? Cry? Me, I asked the obvious question when told I had cancer. “Am I going to die?” Thankfully the answer was no and although not fully recovered, I’m getting there.

But it did occur to me, one day while my Oncologist was explaining about my condition, that in the not too distant future, we humans will not be sat in front of another human waiting for a diagnosis. Instead, we will be sat in front of our laptops, or more likely with phone in hand, typing in our symptoms to an AI Medic app.

So I decided to ask a question of one of the current, leading, AI apps. I asked a question that has intrigued me for a long time. I have always, like my father before me, suffered from cold hands and cold feet, even in the summer. Yet my head, an extremity in its own right, is never cold. Why is that, Dr. AI?

The answer came back at once and was a long, long string of text going into great detail. But at the end the summary was quite succinct.

In summary, your head feels warmer because it gets more blood flow and is prioritized by your body for temperature regulation, while your extremities experience reduced circulation, especially as you age, which makes them feel cold.

That was fairly straightforward and I have no doubt this sort of interaction will be happening in the not-too-distant future. But that begs a question. Will that mean a lot of local doctors, General Practitioners, will be redundant in the future. And after that will it be the turn of bank managers (no tears there then) or solicitors, estate agents and even, dare I say it, politicians? Wow! The future’s looking brighter already.

Copyright © Tom Kane 2024

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I write historical fiction novels. I have published five novels with six more planned in the Midnight Series. For more information on my books, why not join my newsletter.

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