Patients Use Chatbots as De Facto Doctors

People are increasingly leaning on large language models as round‑the‑clock medical consultants: they prompt models (even via narrative workarounds) to interpret scans, lab values, and treatment options and then cross‑check or act on that advice alongside formal clinicians. Those bots can agree with physicians, hallucinate, or be nudged around safety rules, creating a hybrid patient–AI care channel outside standard regulation. — This shift affects clinical liability, informed consent, health equity (who can access accurate AI help), and how regulators and health systems must adapt standards and oversight for AI‑assisted self‑care.