Study: Second Opinions Change Treatment More Than Half the Time!

Heard this on the Today Show this morning:

http://www.cancer.med.umich.edu/news/second_opinion06.shtml

A study at the University of Michigan — women with breast cancer were studied, and 52% of the time a second opinion yielded changes in the original protocol recommendations for their treatments.

Every Patient’s Advocate’s recommendation: whenever your treatment will be at ALL invasive (surgery, difficult drugs, long term) — get a second opinion!

And — the best place to get a good recommendation for a second opinion doctor is by finding another patient who has the same disease/condition or symptoms as you, then asking that person about his/her doctor.

Avoid asking your own doctor for a second opinion referral , unless you ask for a referral to a specific doctor you have already researched. Rarely do two doctors who know each other contradict each other. You need objectivity, not two agreeable friends, to make your recommendations.

Learn more about second opinions at: www.EveryPatientsAdvocate.com

Trisha Torrey
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