Second Opinion

A second opinion is when you seek the advice of another doctor after you’ve received a diagnosis or treatment recommendation from your original doctor. The first doctor you see is sometimes called the “first opinion,” making the next doctor you see a “second opinion.” Some people, especially those with serious diagnoses, consult with multiple doctors. This can include “third opinions,” “fourth opinions,” and so on.

Whether your “first opinion” and “second opinion” agree or not, it’s important to evaluate all the options available to you. This helps ensure you’re making the most informed health decisions possible.

Many people think that requesting a second opinion will offend their doctor. In fact, second opinions are not only commonplace, but recommended, even if you love your doctor. This is because experts often have different views on the best treatment path, and consulting with multiple experts can help ensure you’re making the most informed health decisions possible.

The case for getting a second opinion is well-supported in research. A 2017 study by the Mayo Clinic found that nearly 90% of patients seeking a second opinion receive a new or modified diagnosis. Further, 21% of people received a “distinctly different” diagnosis, meaning that 1 in 5 people were diagnosed completely incorrectly. Another study from Johns Hopkins concluded that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States today.

Getting a second opinion is important no matter what health challenge you’re facing, but it’s especially critical in a few cases:

• You’ve been diagnosed with a serious disease, such as cancer. A 2018 study of cancer patients found that a second review by a multidisciplinary tumor board changed the diagnosis for 43% of the patients in the study. Even experts who specialize in specific health conditions have a hard time staying up to date on all the latest advances. Consider the fact that it is estimated that the body of medical knowledge now doubles every 73 days. So it’s important that you consult with multiple doctors to find the best path forward for you.
• You’ve been diagnosed with, or suspect you may have, a rare disease. There are nearly 7,000 known rare diseases, affecting between 263–446 million people globally at any given time (including 25-30 million Americans). This is about 1 in every 25 people, making rare diseases as a whole not so rare at all. Rare diseases are particularly difficult to diagnose. In fact, people living with a rare disease visit an average of 7.3 physicians before receiving an accurate diagnosis. The average length of time from symptom onset to accurate diagnosis with a rare disease is 4.8 years.
• You’re making a major treatment decision. If you’re considering a treatment that is irreversible, invasive, or has long-term consequences, such as surgery, a second opinion is particularly important. While the recommended treatment may end up being the right decision for your health, you should take extra care to get a second opinion in this case.
• You’re not sure about your diagnosis. Sometimes it’s difficult to diagnose the cause of your symptoms, so it’s important to see different experts with different points-of-view. You can also explore your symptoms using the MediFind Symptom Checker to identify health conditions to investigate further. This will help you set up an in-person appointment or a remote appointment for health care that works with your insurer, Medicare, or Medicaid plan.

Our algorithms identify doctors who are experts in your condition, but who are likely to have different insights about your care options. These doctors are identified based on three key pieces of information:

• Who are the top experts for a specific health condition? It’s not enough to simply see a specialist. MediFind identifies the doctors who are at the forefront for thousands of individual diseases.
• How different are these experts’ profiles from the reference doctor (the original doctor you enter)? MediFind builds sophisticated profiles from many data sources that also tell us how “connected” doctors are to each other, whether through publications (such as BMJ Open and free PMC article content), training, or referral patterns.
• Where are you located, and how far are you willing to travel? MediFind will identify doctors near you, and you can also filter your search radius to specify how far you’re willing to travel to seek care. This step can also, for example, help you find an oncology, radiology, or pathology clinic that you can contact to ensure they work with your insurance provider.

If you still need a “first opinion,” you can find a doctor by condition, specialty, or name here. If you’re not sure what condition to enter, use our Symptom Checker to narrow your search. Note that you shouldn’t use a second opinion during a medical emergency and you should seek immediate care.

To learn more about how MediFind works, including how we define expertise, including how we define expertise, explore our methodology.

Second opinions are particularly recommended for serious, complex, life-threatening, and rare diseases, though you should feel confident pursuing a second opinion at any point in your care. Some of the most common searches on MediFind include: 
Ankylosing spondylitis
Atopic dermatitis
Atrial fibrillation
Axial spondyloarthritis
Bladder cancer
Cervical cancer
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)
Crohn’s disease
Colorectal cancer (CRC)
Cystic fibrosis (CF)
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
Hepatocellular carcinoma
HER2-positive breast cancer (HER2+)
Hodgkin lymphoma
Gastric cancer
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
Macular degeneration
Mantle cell lymphoma
Melanoma
Multiple myeloma
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Psoriasis
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC)
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Sickle cell disease
Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC)
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)
Ulcerative colitis (UC)
Urothelial cancer