Jonesborough family advocates for AI as medical tool

More than 230 million people around the world use ChatGPT for health and wellness questions every week, according to the company. About a third of adults use artificial intelligence chatbots for health information and advice. Most of them use it because they want quick and immediate advice, according to nonprofit research organization KFF. Others want to look up information before seeing their provider or have a safe space to ask health questions privately. Ben and Ashley Thompson of Jonesborough are one such family that found help through the AI program. They used ChatGPT to look for more information for their son, Jack, who developed concerning symptoms."When he was two months old, we took him just for a wellness checkup, and the pediatrician saw a bunch of birthmarks on his skin," Ashley said. "We didn't really think much about it, but they had referred us to a geneticist, and they said that that's actually an indication of a condition called Neurofibromatosis Type I."The Thompsons said at 6 months old, Jack was diagnosed with NF1, but his condition continued to escalate with headaches and eventually seizures."When he was probably about three, he started getting a lot of headaches and nausea episodes," Ashley said. "That led our doctors to want to do an MRI, and that's when they found an optical glioma [optical nerve tumor]."They said a major risk with NF1 is that he could develop tumors anywhere in his body, and he has a much higher likelihood of developing tumors, adding his vision may be at risk in the future.Now, Jack continues living with the optical glioma as the Thompsons continue to monitor it."The last MRI that we had over the summer, it was still measuring the same, so it has not increased in size, which is really good," Ashley said. "The plan moving forward for him is just continual monitoring. He has to go to the eye doctor every 3 months, and then get MRI scans."Ben said they began looking into Jack's condition through an artificial intelligence program."ChatGPT is one of the reasons that we were able to kind of get some good answers and some help as far as being more proactive about his care in conjunction with our doctors," Ben said. "We go to Niswonger Children's Hospital and St. Jude's, and we have a great team there."He said the program helps them learn about Jack's condition and advocate for medical care."We started doing research on our own and started bringing some additional context to the conversations with our doctors. It helped us be more informed as we learned more about his specific condition."The AI programs also keep up with a plethora of medical records, with Ben saying the program helped them locate documents and use them more effectively."We were able to log in and just connect all of his records," Ben said. "It synced over 100 medical records for him in just a few seconds. Now it knows his most up-to-date information and we're able to move forward with that."The Thompsons said ChatGPT is helping to fill those gaps in where they're not having to call the doctor every time they have a question. "We use it every single day for so many different things for him. Everything from his diet to vitamins, because we've really tried to be mindful of foods that would not cause a lot of inflammation. We'll also take a photo of a package of something at the store and be like, 'Can Jack have this?'"Dr. Kent Wright, a Johnson City-based physician who owns telemedicine-based practice Maximum Performance Medicine, uses AI to transcribe patient visits into notes for their medical record and follow-up emails. He said the ambient scribe lets him focus more on his patients — and he recommends that they use AI tools, too."I love when patients take the interest in their condition and the possibility of what it could be," he said, adding that the patients that make inquiries before their visits are usually "pretty smart cookies." "When that's the case, they have their questions organized, they have their thoughts organized, and so things flow very well."Wright added that he's seen patients Google their symptoms for decades. He's yet to meet a patient steered completely off base because of the online reference they've chosen. "I love computers, and I love making them work for me to make life better for patients and obviously myself," he said. AI concerns While millions do ask AI chatbots about health concerns, reliable health organizations caution inquirers that generated information isn't always reliable or accurate. "Think of AI as a research assistant, not as your healthcare professional," the nonprofit medical center Mayo Clinic states on its website. The group cautions that diagnoses and treatment are too complex for a machine, and that AI can be wrong, biased and non-communicative. It advises people to cross-check its information, ask specific questions and only use it for general education. Wright advises patients to learn how to use the tools and interpret the results. There are also conditions where it's best for doctors to be able to put their hands on a patient, he added, like in the case of kidney stones or appendicitis."I would remember common sense," he said. "If you're having excruciating pain, or you're having symptoms that are concerning for a true emergency… at that point, I would call 911 and not delay and not use an AI reference." When asked what doctors have said about their use of AI, Ben said they often use it together."I think they have been very impressed at the level of questions that we've asked, and we've even used it together with them in the room," Ben said. "As we're talking, I'll transcribe our meetings. We have all of our meeting notes recorded and added to the tool that I've been using for that."Ben said the AI tool should be used in congruence with professional medical advice."Any information that you find on the internet you shouldn't just automatically trust it," he said. "But what is really helpful and really nice is asking it to sort sources for you about specific things. If you want to find more about a specific condition, it will literally pull from medical publications so that you can see and go and read those for yourself."