Cancer: Should one have a second opinion?
Cancer missed!
“The GP doctor said that my bleeding per rectum is due to haemorrhoid or piles. So I was treated with piles medications for six months before I was diagnosed as having cancer rectum…” Piles are so common, this patient did not doubt the GP and did not seek a second opinion until much later.
It is ironic that lady A went around teaching others how to perform the breast self-exams. But her own breast lump was misdiagnosed as mastitis as she was breast feeding her child. During a second opinion the doctor diagnosed her with incurable breast cancer. She underwent a bilateral mastectomy surgery to remove both breasts. This was followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
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No cancer, but operated!
Another lady underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstructive surgery. Later it was found out to be an incorrectly reported biopsy result. And she did not have cancer!
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That is why, I always stressed to nurses that they are not to break the news of cancer. It is the duty of the relevant doctor with his clinical findings and the biopsy result in hand.
Even with that, the best doctors can still make mistakes. Should one seek a second opinion?
Has Artificial Intelligence (AI) a place in complementing medical diagnosis?
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Chen Song Ping 
I’m doing work related to AI literacy and education and AI indeed has promising applications in healthcare. The key is to keep the human (doctor, nurse, researchers) in the loop and work together to realize its benefits.
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Yea, a few of our elite private hospitals have quite advanced robotic surgeries. So the doctors and staff are trained in that too. I suppose that is the way to go as humans advance.
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A doctor told me I had cancer, but turned out it was something else.
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You should be happy then that it is not cancer?
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Absolutely. That doctor put me under a great deal of stress until I had the results.
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I can understand. Cancer is a frightening news! Must be such a relief after that! Are you well now? 🙏🙏🙏
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Thanks. I have a few chronic conditions that I live with, and manage to keep up for the most part.
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👍🙏🙏🙏💐
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Second opinions are essential, And one has to find a doctor with no financial ties to the first doc so that the second opinion is truly independent. We simply have too many mistakes made in the US, when doctors elsewhere would lose their license for the same errors.
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Definitely discuss alternate potential diagnoses with the first doctor and second or third opinions are a good idea.
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True…
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Hear, hear for second opinions.
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