Two Reasons Why You Might Want a Second Opinion
About six months ago, I visited my dentist. Unfortunately, it
wasn't a pleasant experience.
After jamming a dental instrument into one of my teeth and
asking me if I had been eating sweets, she made a decision. She
felt that I had an area that needed to be drilled into, "to see
how far the problem goes". Fortunately, I declined.
This all happened shortly after she told me of her impending
wedding. Maybe there is something about a new house, wedding and
honeymoon that leads to fuzzy diagnosis?
I guess I had one of those gut feelings. You know the kind of
feeling that tells you something is grossly wrong? She must have
seen the ghost of that thought appear on my face because she
started talking really fast.
I decided to see another dentist. There was nothing wrong with
my perfectly healthy tooth.
I don't know about you, but I'm a little uneasy about treating a
body part that doesn't really have a problem. In fact, I was so
sure there was nothing wrong that I didn't bother to see that
second dentist until six months later.
My mother's ophthalmologist told her she had glaucoma in one eye
and started her on some very expensive medication. The long list
of side effects included changing eye color.
When she went back for a follow up visit she asked how many
drops she should use. The doctor told her to put x amount of
drops in both eyes. My mother realized that something had to be
wrong as he had previously said there was only a problem in one
eye.
She went for a second opinion. You may have guessed that the
second doctor said she didn't have glaucoma in either eye.
Doctors are only human. Whether these mistakes were intentional
or not does not matter. The important thing to realize is that
if you feel uneasy about a diagnosis, it is a your body and your
right to get a second opinion before submitting to a treatment
that you aren't sure about.