Get a Second Opinion

People make mistakes every day, and doctors are not immune to this fact. What's more, some doctors are more conservative while others tend to be more aggressive. So, their findings and recommendations can vary dramatically. For this reason, more and more patients are getting second opinions after a diagnosis. Whether your doctor recommends surgery, makes a cancer diagnosis or identifies a rare disease, there are many benefits to getting a second opinion. These benefits include everything from the peace of mind and confirmation to a new diagnosis or a different treatment plan.

Even if your second opinion just confirms what you already know, it can still be beneficial. Afterward, you will know that you have done everything you can to ensure that you have the correct diagnosis and a treatment plan that feels right to you. A second opinion can also offer insight into additional treatment options that the first doctor may not have mentioned. As a result, you become more informed about what is available to you and can make an educated decision about your health care and your treatment plan.

A 2017 study of 286 patients conducted by the Mayo Clinic found that as many as 88% of patients looking for a second opinion will leave the office with a new or refined diagnosis. Meanwhile, 21% of the people will leave with a “distinctly different” diagnosis. Conversely, the study, which was published in 2017 in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, discovered that 12% of patients will learn that the original diagnosis was correct. This means that one out of every five patients they saw was incorrectly diagnosed.1

Meanwhile, a controversial study conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2016 say that medical errors should rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States, further supporting the need for second opinions. In their study, they estimated that more than 250,000 Americans die each year from medical errors, making errors the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer. But they claim these errors are not accurately documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By Sherri Gordon (www.verywellhealth.com)