For 3 years, 17 doctors failed to diagnose a boy's pain — then his mom typed the symptoms into ChatGPT

Finding the right doctor for a child can be a frustrating and exhausting process, often leading to delayed diagnoses and prolonged suffering. This was the case for one mother, who turned to ChatGPT in a desperate attempt to identify her four-year-old son's medical condition, as reported by TODAY. After visiting at least 17 medical specialists over three years with no clear answers, she was stunned when the AI-backed program provided a breakthrough that no doctor had.

The mother, Courtney, started noticing her son’s pain after she purchased a bounce house for her two young kids during the COVID lockdown. However, to her surprise, her child Alex, who was four years old then, ran into trouble and had "gigantic meltdowns."

"(Our nanny) started telling me, 'I have to give him Motrin every day, or he has these gigantic meltdowns,'" the mom told the outlet. Shortly after, Alex was biting or gnawing on objects, which prompted Courtney to schedule an appointment with a dentist.

Like any other parent, Courtney initially thought Alex was chewing on things because his molars were coming in and causing pain. The mother even considered that her little one was struggling with a cavity as a possible reason. “Our sweet personality — for the most part — [child] is dissolving into this tantrum-ing crazy person that didn’t exist the rest of the time,” she recalled. "If he had Motrin, he was totally fine," the mom added, further explaining how she could not find a permanent fix to her child’s problem until he turned seven. After visiting numerous doctors and following their advice, Courtney decided to run her son’s medical reports through an AI-backed search engine.

Before that, the dentist had “ruled everything out,” per the outlet, and recommended that an orthodontist specializing in airway obstruction might be helpful. According to the dentist, Alex had difficulty breathing properly because of the airway obstruction. As a result, an expander was placed in the child’s palate, and things started getting better. “Everything was better for a little bit. We thought we were in the home stretch,” remarked Courtney. But Courtney grew alarmed when she noticed Alex had stopped growing. After several more doctor visits, a pediatrician referred him to physical therapy in 2021, noting an imbalance between his left and right sides.

“He would lead with his right foot and just bring his left foot along for the ride,” Courtney said. On top of all the troubles, Alex began experiencing severe headaches that were only getting worse. Soon, his mom struggled to find a specialist who would address the underlying issue. As part of her process to seek answers, Courtney subscribed to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, per the outlet. Additionally, the concerned mother went on to share Alex’s symptoms, including some of the findings from his MRIs, with the chatbot.

“We saw so many doctors. We ended up in the ER at one point. I kept pushing. I really spent the night on the (computer)… going through all these things,” Courtney elaborated. After examining the documents and providing information, the chatbot came up with a conclusion, suggesting that the child was suffering from tethered cord syndrome, which, as per Courtney, “made a lot of sense.” “There’s nobody that connects the dots for you. You have to be your kid’s advocate,” she acknowledged. Following the diagnosis and further consultations with the doctors, Alex underwent surgery to fix his tethered cord syndrome in September 2023, which turned out to be successful.