No, this flow is actually very good.

Like any domain, when you have questions or need a solution, you make research first, then you ask a specialist.

If you explain well the symptoms and context you can have proper advices and then decide on the path next:

    Case A) It looks benign and advices / information that you collected seem reasonable, then you go your way.

    Case B) You need second opinion of a specialist because the subject is too complex, or there are medications that you need approval.

Once you have challenged LLMs, and read about the topics over and over then you genuinely become really good at understanding it (especially if you triangulate over LLMs and ask them to challenge, you start to have genuine questions). No matter if the answer is right or wrong, you have elements. Maybe you missed the point, but you come prepared.

At home you have the time to assess the options, pros and cons of each approaches, the possible questions to ask and then challenge the doctor.

Shared decision-making is an actual evidence-based model of care, and patients who arrive understanding their condition and carrying specific questions tend to get better attention and better outcomes.

Some doctors get annoyed, because they have big ego and choose to be patronizing, but it is exactly their job to answer such questions.

    With LLMs, it's quite good, you get nuanced and rather useful answers.

    Before LLMs, no matter the topic you searched for, the answer was the same: "you have cancer / an [obviously deadly] rare disease"

The other problem, in many places:

    • The doctors are not affordable
    • They are too busy for you (< 15 minutes)
    • You may need to wait months to get an appointment
    • They are not good (country-side is an example, and sometimes even country-level)

+ you can have all of these factors together.

So, you have something deeply bothering you, your only appointment is in 4 months. It would be insane not to take the time to explore different solutions and not to come informed about the topic.

If you express your prompt properly and do not rely on imagery, you can absolutely have top-tier advices.

I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI