Second opinions for IVF patients

While second opinions can be quite helpful in reducing " avoidable medical care" , they come with their own set of challenges. . Patients are scared about seeking out a second opinion because they are worried that by doing so, the doctor who is treating them will get offended and may disengage himself from the treatment. Patients are scared of physicians and don't want to risk antagonizing them!The two sides of the coin1. Not all second opinions are correct. Sometimes, it's the "first opinion" which might have been the right decision for the patient, and only time is able to tell which doctor was right. It's naive to simply assume that the second opinion was better than the first! Let's not forget that doctors who give second opinion are also often biased to giving one which is different from the first opinion – after all, doctors love playing a game of one-upmanship to show they are better than their colleagues! Second opinion services are incentivized to "adding value" to patients by providing a different perspective. Not surprisingly, a third opinion could be completely different!2. Second opinions can aggravate the situation. It might be convenient to take a second opinion online, but this may end up leaving the patient confused and paralyzed into inactivity when the opinions differ. Who does he believe? The online anonymous doctor who has been positioned as being an expert? Or his personal doctor, who knows him and whom he can talk to face-to-face? Conflictin...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - Category: Reproduction Medicine Tags: IVF expert IVF second opinion Source Type: blogs