Why You Should Get A Second Opinion

Receiv­ing a can­cer diag­no­sis can be a life-chang­ing event and you may be over­whelmed with what to do next. A sec­ond opin­ion can pro­vide you with a bet­ter under­stand­ing of your diag­no­sis and treat­ment options. A fresh look at your health from anoth­er physi­cian may pro­vide a dif­fer­ent man­age­ment plan or reaf­firm that the plan pro­vid­ed is appropriate.

When to Seek A Sec­ond Opinion

There are many rea­sons why you may want to seek a sec­ond opin­ion dur­ing the course of your can­cer care.

• Your con­fi­dence lev­el in your cur­rent doc­tor’s abil­i­ty to treat your cancer
• If you have a rare or unusu­al can­cer type
• If your can­cer isn’t respond­ing to cur­rent treatment

Why Get a Sec­ond Opinion

Get­ting a sec­ond opin­ion can shed new light on treat­ment options or give you the con­fi­dence to pro­ceed with your care — either way it is impor­tant to get on the path to the right treat­ment for you.

• Con­firm Your Diagnosis
  • In can­cer care, it is very com­mon for patients to get a sec­ond opin­ion, and most physi­cians are com­fort­able with the request and wel­come it. Con­firm­ing your diag­no­sis will also help you feel assured with your course of treatment.

• Dis­cov­er More Treat­ment Options
  • Not all med­ical facil­i­ties are cre­at­ed equal. By seek­ing a sec­ond opin­ion, a dif­fer­ent treat­ment method that is not avail­able at one facil­i­ty may be rec­om­mend­ed else­where and be a bet­ter option for you.
• A Full Care Team At Your Disposal
  • A ful­ly inte­grat­ed team gen­er­al­ly includes med­ical oncol­o­gists, radi­a­tion oncol­o­gists, radi­ol­o­gists, sur­geons, nurse nav­i­ga­tors and more. Pri­or to mak­ing a selec­tion for your care, make sure that the team you choose pro­vides access to every­thing you may need includ­ing sup­port ser­vices such as class­es, sup­port groups, and finan­cial counselors.

By going through the process of get­ting a sec­ond opin­ion you will find addi­tion­al sup­port and feel con­fi­dent that you are mak­ing the best choice in your med­ical care. Don’t be afraid to ask for a sec­ond opinion.

If you are in need of a sec­ond opin­ion, please con­tact one of the DMG Inte­grat­ed Oncol­o­gy Pro­gram nurse nav­i­ga­tors at 1−855−436−4662.