Why and how to get a second opinion

"In the end, the patient-physician relationship is crucial to overall decision-making for any plan of care, treatment, or surgery. There are many variations in the reviewed studies in health care literature as to the cost-effectiveness of second opinions in medicine. These studies could be easily misconstrued that there are no benefits to second opinions, thus possibly leading to little pay or no pay by insurance companies. A patient should consider the substantial short and long-term implications of their body's health and well-being. In other words … it is worth it. Go with your intuition. When in doubt, or if you have more questions, get a second opinion." Sonya M. Sloan is an orthopedic surgeon and author of The Rules of Medicine: A Medical Professional's Guide for Success. She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Think again: Get a second opinion." Reflect and earn 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CME for this episode.