50% Of AI Chatbots’ Medical Advice Is Problematic, Researchers Observe
A study found that nearly 20% of chatbot responses were highly problematic. Meanwhile, according to a Gallup poll, about a quarter of U.S. adults have turned to AI for health information or advice in the past 30 days.
Artificial intelligence-driven chatbots are giving users problematic medical advice about half the time, according to a new study, highlighting the health risks of the technology that’s becoming increasingly integral in day-to-day life. Researchers from the US, Canada and the UK evaluated five popular platforms — ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, Grok and DeepSeek — by asking each of them 10 questions across five health categories. Out of the total responses, about 50% were deemed problematic, including almost 20% that were highly problematic, according to findings published this week in medical journal BMJ Open. (Kan, 4/14)
When Tiffany Davis has a question about a symptom from the weight-loss injections she’s taking, she doesn’t call her doctor. She pulls out her phone and consults ChatGPT. ... Turning to artificial intelligence tools for health advice has become a habit for Davis and many other Americans, according to a Gallup poll published Wednesday. The poll, conducted in late 2025 and backed up by at least three other recent surveys with similar findings, found that roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults had used an AI tool for health information or advice in the past 30 days. (Swenson and Sanders, 4/14)
In a CT scan, coronary artery calcium shows up as distinct, bright pixels. It looks like salt in the pepper of the heart. The more calcium, the higher a patient’s risk of a heart attack. Often, a cardiologist looks for those bright spots on purpose: They’ll grab snapshots of the heart between beats, to get the clearest possible view of the coronary arteries. But calcium is also visible on zoomed-out chest CTs that aren’t synchronized with the heart. (Palmer, 4/15)
In news about health care workers —
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA) are calling for the release of a South Texas doctor who was detained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In a statement, the organizations said they were deeply concerned about the detention of Rubeliz Bolivar, MD, an emergency medicine resident at South Texas Health System in McAllen, Texas, and an ACEP member. (Henderson, 4/14)
When an Alabama man visited a hospital in Florida in August 2024, he reported a pain in his left side, near the spleen. Three days later, he died on the operating table, missing a different organ, his liver, on his right side. A grand jury in Walton County, Fla., on Monday indicted a surgeon, Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky, 44, on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in the death of the patient, William Bryan, the Office of the State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit said. (Isai, 4/14)
A former longtime University of California, Los Angeles gynecologist at the center of a sexual misconduct scandal that prompted the school to pay $700 million to settle hundreds of claims pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexual abuse charges and now faces 11 years in prison. The plea by James Heaps was unexpected -– earlier this year an appeals court threw out a conviction on the charges and his lawyer said it was only a matter of time before he was exonerated. Instead, the 69-year-old admitted his guilt to 13 felony counts, six of which involved sexually abusing an unconscious person. (Ding, 4/15)
Triage nurse Tammy Scott said she was helping a man with chest pains when she was stabbed in the head. The blow came out of nowhere, she said Monday. She looked around and saw a woman with a butcher knife coming at her inside the SSM Health DePaul Hospital emergency department. (Rieck, 4/13)
More health industry updates —
A state board approved the sale of Franciscan Health Olympia Fields hospital to Prime Healthcare for nearly $7 million on Tuesday despite concerns from some in recent months over Prime’s changes to other Illinois hospitals. (Schencker, 4/14)
The new owners of the shuttered Crozer Health system say they hope to reopen a primary care clinic within nine months — marking the first concrete step toward restoring health care services in Delaware County. Representatives from Chariot Allaire shared that timeline Tuesday evening during a packed town hall at Widener University, where residents pressed for answers about what comes next after the closure of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and other facilities. (Andersen, 4/14)
Fallout continued this week from the abrupt closure of West Suburban Medical Center last month, with the hospital’s owner suing his business partner over eviction notices issued to the hospital, and doctors asking Gov. JB Pritzker to intervene and reopen the facility. (Schencker, 4/14)
Within 15 minutes of meeting then-new Tampa General Hospital President and CEO John Couris, Dr. Peter Chang was sharing his dream of building a command center. ... The Florida-based health system opened its command center in 2019. The Care Coordination Center, or C3, is a sleek, no-nonsense space on the main campus. Screens showing various data points line the front wall. The neutral gray floors are complemented by a black ceiling with exposed piping. C3 uses artificial intelligence-powered applications to track patient status, show bed availability, expedite diagnostic testing and optimize surgical schedules. (Hudson, 4/14)
