Sheriff of Sodium: AI Will Replace Doctors (Reality Check!)

Docs are in denial, but the economic incentives make it inevitable. Meanwhile, you’re working hard to become a doctor — and now a bot might take your place? The Sheriff of Sodium, Dr. Brian Carmody, is back on the Short Coat to say what nobody wants to hear but might need to: yes, AI in medicine is real, and the value proposition makes docs’ replacement inevitable. From primary care AI to image-heavy fields like pathology, we’re talking actual use cases. We break down physician automation, the AMA’s waning influence, and why corporations – and even patients – might be the real force behind AI-driven doctor job loss. If you thought medical school guaranteed career security, this might shake your certainty. But there are specialties and human-only qualities that you can lean into for a bright future amidst the bots. Then the Sheriff, M3 Jeff Goddard, MD/PhD Miranda Schene, M2s Sarah Lowenberg and Taryn O’Brien pivot to a deeply personal listener question: should a pre-med student push through to med school while struggling with mental health, like her parents want her to? Or take time off to regroup?

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The longest running med school podcast, The Short Coat features a variety cast of medical students from the University of Iowa, offering is a brutally honest look at medicine, med school, and what life is like here at the margins of medicine. Skip this show if you'd prefer not to know and hate laughter. Our opinions and those of guests are definitely not those of the University of Iowa, the state of Iowa, or anyone else. Try not to get your stethoscope in a twist about it!