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Thursday, April 06, 2017

Your first medical diagnosis is probably wrong: study

For only 12%, the diagnosis remained unchanged with a second opinion

When you’re dealing with a serious medical condition, don’t think twice about seeking a second opinion.

It could save your life, according to a new study from the Mayo Clinic. The investigation, published online in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, found that 88% of patients who came to the medical institute for a second opinion, left with a different medical determination.

The study team, led by James Naessens, a Mayo Clinic health care policy researcher, compared the referring diagnosis to the final diagnosis. In 21% of the cases, patients got a completely different diagnosis, while around two-thirds of patients got a modified diagnosis. For 12%, the diagnosis remained unchanged.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Doctors never give back the fees they charge when they are wrong

Anonymous said...

This has been my experience and families experience here. Dont waste your time or risk your health down on the shore when you have pools of very skilled doctors at learning hospitals a car ride away. I can understand an emergency or a sniffly nose otherwise take a car ride. Youll live longer.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree. A PRMC gastrointestinal guy either misdiagnosed me or lied. I got a copy of the report, found the problem and sought help from the group in Delmar.

I give credit to the ER doctor who pointed me in the right direction to start with. He wasn't right either, but he was closer than the "specialist" that had it all wrong.

Anonymous said...

Most doctors are never held accountable for their mistakes. You are talking about simple misdiagnosis. But what about when the misdiagnosis ends up in the death of a patient. I think it is criminal what some doctors get away with. My wife was misdiagnosed twice here in Salisbury. It was not until we got to Johns Hopkins that I found out the real problem. The problem was by then it was to late. After a couple of days at Johns Hopkins my wife died. I was told by two different lawyers that it would be hard to prove that the wrong diagnosis was the cause of her death. Although both lawyers agreed it was a bit suspect. So it remains the same. If we make mistakes in our jobs we get fired or at least reprimanded. BUT DOCTORS BURY THEIR MISTAKES.