The need for a second opinion on cancer
The topic of getting a second opinion on cancer is controversial. Why do we have to get a second opinion? Let me put this in simple words. Cancer is a disease with enormous physical, mental, emotional, psychological and social impact on the patient and his family members. Such are the ramifications of all these aspects after the diagnosis that it can leave an individual and a family devastated. Added to this is the cost of the treatment, which can be enormous. When a particular cancer patient is treated, the family wants the best for him, be it the doctor, be it the medicines and the methods and schedule of treatment. Getting a second opinion can solve many of the doubts in the patient's and his family members' minds provided they approach the right person at the right time. It has its down side also and a biased and unscientific second opinion is sure to ruin the chances of a cure in cancer patients.
Where to get a second opinion on cancer
How to get and where to get a second opinion? Oh, there is no dearth of options. Oncologists of all disciplines - Medical, Radiation, Surgical are there to give their opinion(s) against payment of their fees and sometimes as a social responsibility. Most of them, I presume, will be guiding you to the right path but some will obviously be guided themselves by the market forces and they will give and have their own reasons for such an opinion. By the time you visit the oncologist for a second opinion, you yourself would have read a lot about the cancer from the internet and correlating the information gathered from the internet and the first and the second oncologists' opinion will leave you more confused. What is the solution then? There are two solutions which come to my mind regarding getting a second opinion on cancer. First is to pick and choose the right information from the net and second is to approach a professional body/organization for an opinion. Picking and choosing the correct information from the net is difficult and tedious for a layman because everybody may not have that scientific bend of mind to comprehend the information and you have the know the right website for the correct information. Professional organizations dealing only with second opinion without any binding on the patient for treatment are not many and even if you find one, it may not be in your immediate vicinity.
Reason for designing a site on information and second opinion on cancer
Keeping this lacuna in the demand versus availability of a second opinion on cancer, I along with some of my colleagues from all the disciplines of oncology, thought about having a blog site which will deal only with information and second opinion on cancer. I have decided to keep it a free service and also give the opinions based on evidence based medicine and the latest recommended treatment based on international consensus. The beauty of this blog will be that it will give out all the references from medical journals based on which the second opinion is being given to you which I don't think anybody else is doing till date. I will also give you clarifications on complex medical terms thus making it easy for you to understand.I have also devised a simple referral form which will contain all the basic information about the patient before we form an opinion. I will post the form in my next blog post and will keep on posting it from time to time for your benefit. It may take a few days before I am able to post a reply to you depending on the complexity of the situation. However my motto will be fast, efficient and reliable information and second opinion on cancer.
My contact e mails
partha65@gmail.com
partha.oncologist@hotmail.com
partha_oncologist@yahoo.com
