One of my favorite Beverly Hillbillies episodes was among the first, in which Granny provided one of the best (and most useful) quotes in the history of television comedy: “He’s so lazy, he gets up in the morning with nothing to do, and he goes to bed with it only half done.” When I was in the Air Force, I heard of a subordinate who would go to the emergency room (they call it urgent care now) every so often to get out of work for the day. The kid was pretty obviously sandbagging it. But here’s the deal — he was so lazy…well, he wasn’t even going to the ER to fake it. He’d just tell his supervisor he’d gone and that they put him on quarters. And his supervisor never checked.
When I got word, I handled it in a roundabout way. I went to the First Sergeant and said, “Shirt, it seems we have an Airman here who’s getting sick pretty regularly. I’m afraid because he’s only going to the ER, no one’s putting the pieces together when it comes to his health. Maybe we’d better ask them to do a records review just in case.” We both knew what I was saying, and his behavior was promptly stopped with prejudice.
I remember that story now because I’m getting old and, unlike that Airman, I’m actually going to see a doctor every so often. But doctors are busy (especially in Korean hospitals), and if you’ve been seen by a few for various issues, there’s a very good chance they’re not seeing the big picture.
And this is where AI comes in.
When I go to the doctor now, I get a copy of all my test results and labs. I put them into AI, and I say, “Do you see anything of note here?” The answer is usually, “nothing to worry about,” but the exercise is actually working for me in a few ways. First, I can ask it to refer to previous tests and correlate the results — and maybe catch something the doctors I’ve seen over time may not have seen. Next, I can have it explain to me a little more clearly what the doctor was telling me…just to be sure (which comes in handy when the doctors I’m seeing are not native speakers of my language, nor I of theirs). And lastly, when I’ve gotten the explanation, I can have it explain to my wife in Korean so she understands it all too.
I understand it’s not the be-all-end-all…yet. We know that AI can make mistakes. I’m certainly not going to be using it to diagnose anything without a doctor’s advice, and even more importantly, I’m not going to use it to blow anything off because it says something’s “not serious” (although it’s always seemed to err on the side of caution — “You might want to ask your doctor about…”). But this isn’t the old days of WebMD either where I’m left guessing most of the time. It’s a personalized medical assistant who can help me understand what’s going on as I get older, and I’m happy to get that kind of help — especially in these days where I’m expected to be connected and magically know everything about anything already (just scan this QR code…). I can only imagine what it will come to in the future. It’s already revolutionizing health care, and it can only get better to the point that someday soon we’ll be able to measure it in saved lives. I’m just a novice here, but it’s only a matter of time before it’ll be so easy you can’t help but live a healthier life because of it.
