Your doctor is recommending a surgical procedure you’re unsure about. Or maybe you’ve just received a diagnosis you don’t understand. Or perhaps your doctor isn’t giving you any diagnosis at all and you still don’t feel right. In all these situations, you should seek a second opinion from another physician. That’s a message most Americans don’t seem to get. According to a 2005 Gallup poll, about half of 5,000 Americans surveyed said they never seek a second opinion when their doctor “diagnoses a condition, or prescribes a treatment, drug, or operation” while just 3 percent say they always seek one. What’s the problem? In most cases, it’s ignorance of how the health-care system works. Patients just don’t understand that doctors think seeking a second opinion is routine. Many insurers recommend it and some even require it for certain procedures. But women in particular often say they feel awkward about consulting another doctor because they worry that their primary physician will be less than cordial in future visits. In fact, that’s rarely the case. “I think the physician benefits almost as much as the patient from having a second opinion,” says Dr. Charles Cummings, executive medical director of Johns Hopkins Medicine International. “It is always a good idea to get another set of eyes looking at the slides, looking at the lab data … to structure a diagnostic and treatment plan.” Doctors say that both men and women should seek a second opinion in virtually all types of non-emergency surgery, when your doctor recommends long-term medication that has potential side effects and if you are not feeling better despite repeated visits to your doctor. In the first two cases, studies indicate that the second physician is most likely to confirm the initial recommendation, but may also suggest alternatives for you to consider.
Please click on the link below to read the complete Newsweek article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/170628
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