Why do you need a second opinion on cancer?

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

Why I felt the need to have a blog site dealing with cancer information and second opinion

During my career as a clinical oncologist for the past 15 years I have come across numerous patients and their family members, who when faced with the cruel fact that either he/she or a person very close to their heart has been diagnosed with cancer, are utterly confused and disoriented. They are at their wit's end about their next step.
The patient himself/herself goes through a series of psychological upheavals starting with the feeling that the diagnosis is incorrect and thereafter moving onto the feeling of hopelessness culminating into the feeling of "Why Me Of All Persons ?". In other words the state of mind of the patient does not allow him/her to think rationally about the further course of action. The patient's family, on the other hand, is devastated by the diagnosis and are running from pillar to post to find out the ways and means of treatment. Opinions start to flow in from every possible corner about the doctor to see, the drugs to use, the alternative medicine resources, anecdotes, how bleak is the future and what not leaving them utterly confused.
Navigating through all these when the patient and the family decide to see a doctor, an oncologist to be precise, the busy doctor, sitting in his office, takes a moment to glance through the papers pertaining to the diagnosis and starts prescribing the treatment. This may not happen in the developed countries but it certainly happens days in and days out in the developing and the underdeveloped countries where the doctor-patient ratio is appalling. The doctor does not have the time and more so does not have the inclination to listen to the patient's story and counsel the patient. The family and the patient had jotted down so many things that they wanted to ask the oncologist but could not gather the confidence and the courage to ask him. The patient is in no state of mind to cajole the doctor and even if somebody from the family gathers the courage to put up a question to the doctor, curt comes the reply,"It is beyond your comprehension" or "You could have become a doctor yourself to understand these intricacies of medicine and especially cancer". My decision is final and binding replies the doctor signals his assistant to send in the next patient.
You come out of the oncologist's office dazed and more confused and telephone one of your relatives about the appointment that you just had with the oncologist. He narrates a story to you and guides you to another oncologist who is supposed to be very good. When you visit him, he leaves you more confused about the management because what he tells does not tally with the previous oncologist's version. You don't know what to do and whom to approach with your dilemma. You decide to surf the internet to gather some information but that does not help either because the search engine returns results in millions in a fraction of a second. You don't know which information to assimilate. Finally you choose to toss a coin and select an oncologist and you do your best to stick on to him and follow his instructions though sometimes you have your own doubts.
This is not the way cancer should be treated. There are guidelines for everything starting from prevention to diagnosis and management. All these have been devised after years' of clinical research. Keeping these guidelines in the back of your mind while treating a patient or guiding him promises to deliver the best possible as per evidence based medicine.
Keeping this in mind I envisaged a site of my own which will help these cancer patients by guiding them properly and by being a friend in their days of need. I am not a rich doctor and therefore could not afford to build a fancy dedicated site of my own. I have decided to start small with a blog site therefore and provide my services through it only. Some years down the line I wish to upgrade this endeavor of mine to be upgraded to something like a "Wikioncologica" which will serve the mankind. If anybody reading this blog has any questions or comments, I would be more than happy to answer them either at my blog or by e mail.