Be the Case Study: How to Take Ownership of Your Health With AI
A top-line guide for patients and caregivers ready to take control of their health journeys with AI to ask better questions, spot overlooked patterns, and drive smarter decisions.
My cardiologist was explaining my test results when I realized I understood maybe 30% of what he was putting down. Ejection fraction. Regurgitation. Aneurism. He might as well have been speaking another language. I nodded along, but inside I was panicking: What does this actually mean for my life?
Sound familiar? You're sitting in an appointment, getting handed all these clinical terms, test results, treatment options etc… and somehow you're expected to understand it well enough to make life-altering decisions. Often on the spot.
This is a peek into the playbook I had to build myself after surviving a brain bleed, two open-heart surgeries and a staph infection. I'll share insights into how I used AI to become an active member of my own care team, and how you can too.
The system wasn't built for understanding
Healthcare is structured around throughput and efficiency, not patient comprehension. If you've ever felt confused by results, rushed through appointments, or unsure how to advocate for yourself (or a loved one), you're experiencing the gap by design.
To make it through my extensive medical journey, I found myself doing what no one told me I'd have to: Build my own medical strategy.
After my first open-heart surgery, I was already drowning in appointments, scans, and second opinions. But when complications hit- second surgery, staph infection, pacemaker placement…I realized the traditional system couldn't keep pace with my complexity and my curiosity . I had to create my own infrastructure: organizing data across providers, using AI to prep for consults, translating medical jargon for my family, even predicting surgical risks from listening to my Apple Watch.
I wasn't just following instructions anymore. I was orchestrating a care strategy that pulled together people, platforms, and intelligence… because no one else was going to do it for me.
Step 1: Cut through clinical complexity
When you're handed a new diagnosis, you're suddenly expected to become fluent in a medical subspecialty overnight. Literally. The system dumps complex terms, often conflicting options, and urgent timelines on you - then expects informed consent.
When I was diagnosed with a bicuspid valve, severe aortic regurgitation and an aneurism, I fed everything into AI. Not to get medical advice, but to get clarity. In simple human language.
My questions:
"What does bicuspid aortic valve mean in simple terms I can easily understand?"
“Is trace mitral valve leakage on an echo 3 months post surgery a concern?”
AI didn't replace my care team: it made me a better collaborator with them. I showed up informed, confident, and ready to participate in decisions instead of just receiving them.
Your toolkit:
Use Perplexity, ChatGPT, or Claude to decode complex diagnoses, lab results, or scan reports
Ask: "Explain this imaging report like I'm 5 years old" or "What are the practical differences between these treatment options… x, y, z?"
“Based on this report and my feelings (insert your symptoms) help me prepare good questions for my next appointment with specialist X”
The goal isn't to become your own doctor. It's to become a smarter patient. You can’t advocate for your health if you can’t understand it. AI closes that gap but on your terms, in your language.
Step 2: Find the threads nobody else sees
AI excels at connecting dots that aren't obvious when you're overwhelmed by symptoms, appointments, and complex care. Think of it as your personal clinical partner. One that never gets tired, never gets frustrated with the same basic questions, never forgets details and can process complexity without emotional overload.
For me, using AI to help recognize patterns meant connecting a brain bleed to my heart condition. Amazing right? It meant recognizing how scattered symptoms pointed toward a rare connective tissue disorder that no single specialist had considered. AI helped me see the forest, not just the trees.
Here’s how Perplexity AI found that connection for me.
Your approach:
Input your symptom timeline into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to look for any patterns or possible connections. Then go deeper… ask Perplexity for the latest research on the findings.
Try: "What medical conditions could explain (insert symptoms) over the past 6 months?”
Ask these tools to come up with questions that could help your care team see bigger pictures. You are the informed patient.
Remember that AI won't diagnose you, but it can help you frame conversations that could maybe lead to breakthroughs, identify overlooked clues, and spot inconsistencies that deserve deeper investigation… it did for me. At minimum, you’ll get a better understanding of your health.
Step 3: Prep like your life depends on it
Appointments are short. Doctors are rushed. You sometimes get one shot to communicate what matters most. And if you're not prepared, key info gets lost and you could lose your chance and have to wait.
AI became my appointment prep partner. It helped me organize scattered thoughts, prioritize concerns, and craft questions that cut through the clinical noise. In my case, this preparation led to genetic testing that no human on my care team had suggested—testing that revealed crucial insights about my condition.
Your system:
Before each visit, use AI to summarize your symptoms, medication questions, and diagnostic history. Remove any personal or confidential information and put in what you feel comfortable sharing.
Ask your AI tools: "What should I prioritize about X when I have a short 30mins with the doctor?"
Bring printed notes or save on your phone to help guide the conversation
Don't trust memory under pressure - my wife would help take notes as we went. We would also ask the clinician if we could voice record the conversation so we could play it back in our own time.
You're not just a patient receiving care. You're a collaborator shaping it. AI gives you the preparation and perspective to show up ready to help collaborate in decisions, not just accept them.
Step 4: Build your health intelligence network
Every time you use AI tools intentionally, you're not just helping yourself, you're modeling the future of healthcare. You're proving that patients can be data-driven advocates, pattern recognizers, and active contributors to medical insights.
My AI-powered approach didn't just improve my care, it created insights that now benefit my family, care team, and other patients. I documented patterns, tracked interventions, and built a health story that serves as a case study for others navigating similar complexity. Every patient who embraces these tools makes the system smarter, more responsive, and more human-centered.
Your health, your agency
The healthcare system will eventually catch up. It will integrate AI tools, embrace patient agency, design around understanding instead of just throughput… But you don't have to wait.
Start now:
Pick your AI tools and use them to decode your next test result
Ask it to spot patterns in your symptoms over the past month
Prep for your next appointment like an active collaborator, not just a patient
You already carry the world's medical intelligence in your pocket. The question isn't whether these tools are ready for healthcare. It's whether you're ready to use them.
Always remember that the use of artificial intelligence in your healthcare must not be a substitute for advice from a doctor.
John Duffield
TheFuturePatient