Second Opinions: What Should Patients Know?

Receiving a diagnosis of heart valve disease is overwhelming and distressing. For many patients, it is terrifying. It’s also a complex disease with unfamiliar medical and technical terms, creating a steep learning curve when weighing repair versus replacement, biologic versus mechanical valves, transcatheter versus open-heart surgery, and so on. That’s why a second opinion can be so important.

According to a patient survey, however, 35 percent of patients don’t seek a second opinion. Unfortunately, many patients simply rely on the first-and-only referral provided by their medical team. In our community, we regularly hear from patients all over the world about the subject of second opinions. Recent questions include, “Should I get a second opinion? If I do get a second opinion, will it potentially offend my doctors? What is your advice for patients who are thinking about a second opinion?”

To answer these important questions, we met with Dr. Marc Gillinov,  Chairman of Cardiac Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. Along with decades of experience performing minimally-invasive and robotic heart valve surgery, Dr. Gillinov is well-known in our community as a strong patient advocate. His guidance below focuses on why a second opinion matters.

Video available online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQotOIx-LzM

Facts About the Importance of Second Opinions

Here are the key insights shared by Dr. Gillinov:

• Patients need to advocate for themselves. “Easy, my advice is to get a second opinion,” said Dr. Gillinov. “This is too important to just go with the first thing that seems reasonable. You don’t go out and just buy a computer or a car. A lot of people spend more time looking at consumer products and trying to decide instead of asking, ‘Who’s going to be my heart surgeon? Which operation will I have? Where will I get it?’ This is really important stuff, and no doctor should be offended by a patient who is his or her own advocate and wants a second opinion.”

• The process of getting a second opinion is often not difficult. Dr. Gillinov explained, “Many hospitals, like the Cleveland Clinic and several others, have an automated way to get a second opinion by doing it online. You can submit your records and, for a nominal charge, receive a second opinion. It’s definitely worth, I don’t want to call it ‘shopping around,’ but let’s just say it’s worth looking around. You want this to be the most perfect treatment you can get for your heart.”  Adam also added, “That’s great advice, and as a patient, I can tell everybody out there that I got a second everything: a second echocardiogram, a second physician consult, and I was glad that I got consensus through that second opinion that my path for treatment was right on.”

Thanks Dr. Gillinov and Cleveland Clinic!

On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, Dr. Marc Gillinov, for everything you and your team are doing at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio!

Related links:

• See Dr. Marc Gillinov’s Interactive Surgeon Profile

• Surgeon Spotlight: Patients, Caregivers, and Peers Praise Dr. Gillinov

• Top 5 Questions to Ask Your Robotic Mitral Valve Surgeon

Keep on tickin,
Adam

P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Gillinov below.