His Mother Was Dying. AI Helped Her Son Find the Cause

At four in the morning, a ringing phone woke Edward Patrick, an anesthesiologist from England. On the line was a doctor from a hospital in Nottingham, where his mother, Anne, was being treated. His message was brief and alarming: "Get here right away, because your mother is about to die."

Edward immediately set off for the hospital, unsure what had happened or whether he would arrive in time.

His mother, who takes medication for Parkinson's disease, was experiencing seizures that would not stop. The seizures had triggered a dangerous condition known as rhabdomyolysis, in which muscle tissue breaks down and releases substances into the bloodstream that can severely damage the kidneys.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, rhabdomyolysis can be caused by excessive physical exertion, injuries, certain medications, or underlying medical conditions. Despite their efforts, the medical team had been unable to identify what was causing Anne's seizures.

While Edward was driving to the hospital, he received a message from his brother, who suggested that a vitamin deficiency might be responsible.

Edward decided to investigate the possibility using artificial intelligence. He entered his mother's symptoms, imaging scans, and test results into an AI tool to see whether it could identify a possible explanation.

The tool suggested that Anne might be suffering from a vitamin B6 deficiency linked to her Parkinson's medication.

Doctors administered vitamin B6 through an intravenous infusion, and the seizures stopped.

"Every time I tell the story, I feel like, 'Am I making this up?'" Edward told the British newspaper The Sunday Times.

Since the incident, which took place in May, Anne's condition has continued to improve. She credits her two sons with saving her life and remains amazed that something as simple as a vitamin could have made such an enormous difference.

"I can't get over the fact that something so small could make such a big difference between life and death. I'm a proud mom, absolutely," she said.

The story highlights how AI may help medical professionals identify possibilities that might otherwise be overlooked. However, AI tools are not a substitute for professional medical care and should not be relied upon to make medical decisions independently.

In this case, Edward was himself a qualified doctor who could interpret the information provided by the AI tool, and the treatment was administered by medical professionals in a hospital.