I have a pal who is a barrister. He had 'friends' who invited him to dinner, got him pi-sed and, and in my opinion,
pried advice out of him. Whatever, he gave advice.
It wasn't a terribly serious subject, I can't say what, but nothing to do with crime. Despite my protestations, he decided to pay up. I'd have given them a battle they'd not forget, just on principle.
Back to the now.
I'd be really sorry to lose our stalwarts. I remember a time when there was a dearth of qualified people on here, and I tried to answer some questions - mostly because I know how lonely long nights of worry can be. I often got things right, indeed, three of my post became a sticky, but every so often I'd be just plain wrong, but I gave repeated warnings that I was not a doctor.
Anyway, someone who can only talk about knees, bulging discs, posterior vitreous detachment, classical migraine, and gall bladders is pretty limited. Oh, and I get out of my pram about the use of benzodiazepines, despite it being a fantastic diagnostic tool.
I used to seek advice from qualified people. I'd be very careful in my structuring of the question(s), but it could be very telling just how many times practicing doctors failed to understand the question. It sometimes took two or three goes for them to get the whole picture. It wasn't that they were in anyway lacking, it was just that it's much harder to communicate medical issues accurately than one might expect. And to me, that shouts but one difficulty in dealing with a remote patient.
That brings another thing to mind. The consultant surgeon that did my vitrectomy has a standard answer to my technical questions. 'Pass.' And that's it. He won't be drawn, and I imagine there's a good reason why.