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BlogTag Archives: secondopinions.comSteelers running back DeAngelo Williams getting a Second Opinion
1/13/2016
Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams is getting a second opinion for his foot injury on Monday. After missing a dramatic 18-16 victory over the Bengals in a Wild Card round on Sunday, he will visit with a notorious foot specialist. He is following a trend of sport superstars who are getting a second opinion for injuries. Peyton Manning and Drew Brees have battled with torn plantar fascias and both have sought second opinions.
Getting a Breast Cancer Second Opinion
12/24/2015
A strong sense of urgency comes with a breast cancer diagnosis and many women want to get treatment right away. However, there is value in doing research and seeking a second opinion. Having an additional radiologist look at your imaging tests can help determine whether any additional imaging or biopsy is needed for follow up. It also helps breast specialists with treatment options in the future. By looking at your tissue, a pathologist can change your treatment plan based on the type of breast cancer you have. Another surgeon reviewing your diagnosis can offer you alternatives to standard surgery. The doctor may suggest chemotherapy before surgery, or reconstructive surgery at the same time as the breast cancer surgery. Having access to another medical or radiation oncologist reviewing your treatment plan can help provide other options or access to novel clinical trials and faster or more specific treatment options. Having a second opinion on your breast cancer diagnosis can be vital to your recovery and doctors are used to hearing this request. Some insurance companies even require it before treatment begins.
Jessica’s Story: Second Opinion – A Piece of Advice
“Everything happens so quickly while you are still trying to wrap your head around having cancer. Your mind is overwhelmed and foggy” she says Just days after a suspicious mammogram in 2014, Jessica was scheduled for a stereotactic breast biopsy. At the last minute, the procedure was aborted in favor of a wire-guided breast biopsy. The pathology report from the wire-guided breast biopsy showed a breast cancer. A sentinel lymph-node biopsy was performed a week later by a local general surgeon who had also treated her father for colon cancer. “You see so many people – a surgeon, an oncologist, a radiation oncologist that you feel like you are already getting a second opinion” she remembers. Experts say that it’s best to go outside of your local group for a second opinion, because physicians in the same group/practice most likely share similar or the same theories on treatment options. After suffering a painful complication of her biopsies the result was raised cords from her breast and lymph nodes. This eventually cleared with intense physical therapy. Because her sentinal lymph nodes eventually cleared, she did not have to undergo chemotherapy, but she went through 32 rounds of radiation therapy. A follow-up mammogram the next year unfortunately showed another suspicious area in the same breast. Jessica was now faced with another round of decisions to make. Thankfully, she got up enough courage to tell her doctor that she would like another opinion of her options.
Contact one of our professionals at Second Opinions for the best care. We are available 24/7 by phone – 855-5-SECOND | 855-573-2663 as well as online via live support chat at www.secondopinions.com Consumer Advocacy Group Watchdog, Calls On California Gov. Brown to Audit Reports of Thousands of Medical Errors at Hospitals
12/4/2014
Following a report that thousands of medical errors were reported by California’s hospitals in the last four years, Consumer Watchdog, a national consumer advocacy group, called on Governor Jerry Brown and state health regulators to audit hospitals for failures to report many instances of patient harm and for full public disclosure of these events. At SecondOpinions.com, we offer hospitals and medical facilities independent Quality Assurance (QA) & Peer Review Programs that are implemented to assist with the reduction of medical errors, avoidance of unnecessary procedures and surgeries, improvement in quality of healthcare and overall physician performance. Ultimately, this will make an important difference in patient care, enhance outcomes and lower healthcare costs. We are also uniquely positioned to partner with individual physicians, hospitals and all medical facilities to provide independent, around the clock, second opinion services via our consumer division. Due to the complexities of medicine, this service is invaluable when dealing with time-sensitive, diagnostic challenges or when there is uncertainty as to the course of treatment that is recommended. Consultations are available in all medical specialties and obtaining a second opinion is simple and affordable. SecondOpinions.com, Quality Assurance Programs are expanded into all areas of medicine, including radiology. With an existing national network of board-certified specialists and subspecialists, SecondOpinions.com possesses the infrastructure to offer Quality Assurance/Peer Review Service on a national and global level. Our expert physicians provide comprehensive feedback, detailed reporting, and offer medico-legal information as part of their communication efforts with referring physicians. This service benefits physicians and medical facilities by enhancing performance and measuring improvement on a quarterly or annual basis. At SecondOpinions.com, simply upload digital images (MRI, CT etc.) to a HIPAA regulated, secure, confidential platform and receive a report within hours. In addition, doctors in virtually every medical specialty are on standby to provide consultations via phone or video chat. Obtaining a second opinion decreases medical errors, saves lives, and keeps healthcare costs down by preventing unnecessary surgeries and procedures. It also gives patients the peace of mind they need and deserve. Two Canadian Hospitals ‘deeply sorry’ for Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis – Surprised to hear this?
12/4/2014
At SecondOpinions.com we always encourage our clients and readers of our blog to obtain a second opinion regarding their health. Second opinions not only save lives, they can prevent unnecessary surgeries and procedures due to misdiagnoses. We all know that doctors can make mistakes and diagnosis medical problems incorrectly, but would you expect a hospital laboratory to misdiagnose? Unfortunately, it’s not all that uncommon. Recently, a Canadian man was wrongly diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, told he would die within 12 months and was referred for chemotherapy. Four months later, he was told by the same doctors at 2 hospitals where he was being treated that he was actually suffering from sarcoidosis, a rare, but treatable lung disease. The lab admitted that a specimen from the patient’s lung biopsy was cross-contaminated with another patient’s, who has terminal lung cancer. While the two hospitals in Hamilton, Canada have apologized for getting the diagnoses wrong and are “deeply sorry” for the error, is an apology enough? Shouldn’t medical laboratories check and re-check their lab results before issuing an incorrect report to a patient? Especially one which tells a patient he has a terminal disease and only has months to live? How often do misdiagnoses occur in a high-tech laboratory setting? How many more patients have actually been misdiagnosed, wrongly treated and perhaps even died? Fortunately, this patient was fortunate enough to come to the US for a second opinion and have another biopsy performed which confirmed the tumor was indeed not cancer. So the moral of this unfortunate story is we must always get a second opinion even when having a biopsy because as you see, even labs can make mistakes and probably make them more than we are aware of. Unfortunately it is not easy to obtain a second biopsy because insurance companies most likely will not pay for it, but we must be proactive with our healthcare and ensure that we are properly diagnosed and treated. Starting with obtaining a second opinion is the best way to achieve this. Let’s face it, mistakes can happen to anyone but you owe it to yourself to double check your diagnosis and get a second opinion. In this case, the hospital owned up to their mistake and the patient will be fine, but how many hospitals and labs brush mistakes under the rug? You owe it to yourself to be your own health advocate and SecondOpinions.com enables you to be your own healthcare advocate because we have radiologists and multi-specialists on board 24/7/365 to assist you with obtaining the proper diagnosis and best treatment plan. At SecondOpinions.com, it’s as easy as it can be. We’re completely online, right at your fingertips. No unnecessary tasks such as driving to the doctor’s office or sitting in a waiting room, you remain in the comfort of your own home. It’s simple. Just request a consultation from SecondOpinions.com and that’s it, our experts will take care of the rest. You’ll have an accurate and reliable second opinion, you’ll not waste any time getting your second opinion, and you’ll be amazed at how little your second opinion will cost. Remember, our second opinion could be your first line of defense! SecondOpinions.com is Giving Consumers More Control Over their Healthcare and its Costs.
12/4/2014
Michael Yuz, MD, MBA, Founder and CEO of SecondOpinions.com, a division of USARAD Holdings, Inc., notes during a recent interview, “U.S. healthcare spending is out of control. This is despite many efforts to resolve the problem, including the Affordable Care Act.” Dr. Yuz continued by pointing out, “Billions of dollars continue to be spent on antiquated, inefficient health practices and misdiagnoses.” SecondOpinions.com’s segment will air on Bloomberg International at 7:30am GMT (as pd. prog) on November 23, 2014. Check your local listings for airtimes. In response to a question concerning how to address this growing problem, Dr. Yuz replied, “SecondOpinions.com serves to provide a comprehensive solution to many healthcare issues in the U.S. and globally. We connect consumers with top physicians in all medical specialties and partner with both medical centers and insurance companies.” Lorna Backhaus, Chief Business Development Officer of SecondOpinions.com, adds, “Active consumerism is now a major element of receiving proper healthcare. Giving access to proven and accepted second opinion services is providing consumers with significant control.” SecondOpinions.com serves as a global telemedicine and teleradiology platform to provide medical consultation and second opinion services in all areas of medicine. Customers from over 40 countries have received second opinions from its U.S. based physicians. SecondOpinion.com’s unique approach has been featured on more than 50 television stations and in major U.S. markets from Los Angeles to Chicago to Washington, DC. In his concluding remarks, Dr. Yuz summarized his company’s services by pointing out, “SecondOpinions.com has a seasoned and talented management team committed to providing solutions to improve health outcomes and reduce medical costs. We achieve that with highly trained physicians who utilize our revolutionary telemedicine approach, use of unique ideas, innovative technology, and intellectual property that includes multiple registered trademarks and patents.” To learn more about SecondOpinions.com tune in to Bloomberg International (as pd. prog) on November 23, 2014. Check your local listings for airtimes. Noting the significance of the SecondOpinions.com offerings, J.L. Haber, Vice President of Programming for Corporate Review, observes, “Healthcare costs are a major concern to many Americans and businesses. Innovative solutions such as those offered by SecondOpinions.com are a major part of what our viewers tune in to be kept abreast of.” About Corporate Review Corporate Review is an award winning business and health program that is independently produced by MMP (USA), Inc. The show provides its viewers an in depth opportunity to find solutions to the industry problems from some of the top business leaders from across the world. With more than 5,000 companies participating on over 500 shows, Corporate Review continues to be the premier and targeted outlet for the latest business and health stories. Corporate Review airs on cable networks to over 100 million potential television households. Second Opinions Prevent Unnecessary Surgeries
1/14/2014
Recently a patient, Ella, came to us because she was told that she needed spine surgery and was concerned about subjecting herself to such a difficult surgery. Ella had been in a car accident and suffered from severe pain in her spine after the accident. Her job required her to sit at a computer for many hours a day and this was becoming a problem because it was very painful. Ella went to see a spine surgeon who recommended she get an MRI to determine the cause of the pain. When she returned to the spine surgeon with the results of the MRI, she was told that surgery was indicated to fix her spine problem and that the surgery could potentially leave her with some mobility problems. Ella knew that she was not about to undergo surgery with the risk of having additional problems. She decided to seek another opinion. Ella did not know of any other spine surgeons and felt uncomfortable telling her surgeon she wanted a second opinion so she elected to go on the internet to research other physicians who could assist with a second opinion. She came across secondopinions.com and she read all about our services. Board certified physicians, easy upload of the MRI DVD to a HIPPA secure website and second opinion report received within hours of submission at very affordable prices. Because Ella had a spine problem, a specialized neuroradiologist read her MRI and she also consulted with an in-network spine surgeon. Both physicians concurred that Ella did not need surgery; all she needed was a physical therapy plan and exercise. The SecondOpinions.com doctors referred Ella to a physical therapist who was able to help her and she has responded very well. No more pain, no more problems sitting at her desk, and the best part, No surgery! It is important to have trust and faith in your doctor, but it is also important to be open minded and educate yourself about the potential healthcare options that may be available to you. In Ella’s case, she was fearful of having surgery, especially a surgery that could potentially leave her with disabilities. Ella realized the importance of educating herself and learning more about her condition so that she could make the best decision regarding her treatment. Second opinions save lives, decrease medical errors, and prevents unnecessary surgeries and procedures. Don’t think twice before you get your second opinion. It could be a matter of life or death. |
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