Why not take RD word for it? | Arthritis Information

My last visit to RD, she was kinda upset that one of her patients did not take her word for what her daughter had. I think my RD was her second opinion.

So... my RD says to me "why travel all the way to Pennsylvania just to be told the same exact thing I told her?" I was like "because she wanted a second opinion?" RD said "I was her second opinion." Then she said "it is fine, if they have the money to travel all over the world to be told the same thing I told her that is fine with me... I will still treat her. "

It should be fine! Doctors should encourage second opinions, anything to back them up. Our friend says he is glad when one of his patients gets a second opinion. I'd say the only reason to worry about one is if you think it will be different.

I just talked about this today, as a matter of fact. My eyes were overcorrected by two surgeries when I was a toddler (also known as aggressive therapy.....), so as an adult one began to turn out, the vision became poor, and I stopped using it (I have always switched eyes). My opth said it wouldn't do any good to correct the vision in that eye and insurance wouldn't pay for muscle surgery because it was cosmetic.

I told my GP (I was also getting bad headaches, I think from trying to use the bad eye) and he sent me to another opth, who sent me to a ped opth (at 27!). The ped opth put a contact on that eye that day, and I stopped getting headaches. He also said it was more than cosmetic, and insurance paid for the surgery. That second opinion was the best thing I ever did!

Yeah, but did you travel half way up north for her 3rd opinion? That is what RD was mythed about. We live in Alabama, this lady went all the way to Pennsylvania for her 3rd opinion!

For a 2nd opinion I would not travel to another state, but maybe a RD in the same state.

joonie39437.6028356481Many people travel to an arthritis institute in Riverside, California to pursue antibiotic therapy. It is the foremost center on the therapy in the country.

They know this. They have blocks of hotel rooms set aside.

With something like RA, I'd definitely travel in order to get the best therapy. I know only too well what it's like when I *don't* get the correct treatment.
My RD does AP. She is into everything that has been proven to help RA. I am on AP. Well... was... I took myself until my right hip gets better, as the minocin makes me lightheaded and with my right hip acting like it has been, I am unbalanced even more than I was before. Since the right hip has been messed up I have nearly fallen 3 times. I mean I was so close to falling that, I could smell the dirt. I admit to still being curious about it. My GP believes that I have a lot of food intolerance issues going on, and so she is supporting what I am already doing. I wonder what she would think of AP. I know she would probably not like it causing an imbalance of my gut bacteria. But I will re-evaluate my progress over the next six months or so and decide where to go from there. I recently got a second opinion after four years with one rheumatologist. I figured what was the point in living within an hour of the top doctors in the world (NYC) if one didn't take advantage of them when a situation came along that warranted it i.e. RA.I find it a bit...well, off-putting that a physician would discuss one patient and their decision with another patient. That sure seems like a breach of privacy and confidentiality.

How could I, as a patient, trust this physician to not discuss my treatment and my options and my decisions with another patient?
Happ, that was my first reaction to this post, too.

Yea I was thinking that same thing, Drs are not soposed to discuss anything about another patient w/ ANYONE unless that patient gives permission from my understanding. Isnt that what HIPPA is for?

I had 2nd, 3rd and 4th opinions, they all diagnosed all sorts of things only to end up with RA only as a diagnosis. It scares me how much they didn't agree. I know the first 3 were at a training hospital, but two of them were the Rhummy doctors themselves.

I am not sure that some doctors even know anything. I can't tell you how many I don't knows i got.

The person called in on the phone, while she was "examining" me and she had to leave me to go talk to the person on the phone, so it is not like I know who the patient she was talking about. She never said a name. She just said what I said. Does not seem like a breach of anything to me. She did not discuss her treatment or even what it was she had, she just said another opinion and how far she went to get that opinion.

I mean it is quite a shock for someone to travel 1000 miles to be told the same thing 2 other RD's told the patient.

joonie39437.9075694444

If I was in her position and that was my child, I would do the same thing. When it comes to my daughter I would do it in a heartbeat.

My RD does not treat JRA'er's... she only treats adults. So either the daughter is not that young or she is taking her on as a special case.

Most of the RD's who treat JRA'er's in this state are from UAB, which is a training hospital and one of the best for everything around here to go to. So... if they visited there already they already got told by some of the best around what the DX was.

If she was a minor or not, I would still do whatever I had to do to get a good dr...If that ment going to PA, then we'd go to PA.

Well you know what i have to say. This will be my 4th RD. But the first three would not treat me because i did not show up on bloodwork even when it showed up on mri. Wonder what they thought all of the docs were referring me for? But i show up on blood work now so it should be more productive than the last three RD's i have seen. He better get me some energy back. I will go to texas or wherever to get rid of this fatigue if i have to. Hopefully i will not have to. I took my first RA pill 6 hours ago. Saw my first RD 21 years ago.

Maybe I can fill in a little of the puzzle - the UAB ped rheums came down from CHOP, in Philadelphia. Maybe they suggested the daughter be seen at CHOP - they have a large ped rheum dept., one is very well known for pain treatment, maybe the daughter has hard to control pain?

Also, maybe they have family in that area, or are orignally from that area and feel more comfortable hearing it at "home"?

Or, the little travel secret we have learned - unreimbursed medical expenses, including travel, are tax-deductible. Everything we spent to travel, we pretty much got back.

I agree that she shouldn't have discussed it with you - how intimidating, if you were considering a second opinion!!

I've decided they are all a bunch of insecure blabbermouths. Ped rheum told me we are getting one in our city soon. He knew who it was, he said, but it wasn't someone we had seen. When I asked, "How would you know?", he looked surprised and didn't answer.

[QUOTE=joonie]The person called in on the phone, while she was "examining" me and she had to leave me to go talk to the person on the phone, so it is not like I know who the patient she was talking about. She never said a name.[/quote]
I certainly do not want this discussion to degenerate into a quarrel, but am compelled to say that whether or not a name was spoken is not the point. The point, from my admittedly skewed perspective is that one she A.) was "miffed" to begin with and B.) expressed her annoyance, and the cause of her annoyance to you, another patient is inconsiderate if not unprofessional.

After all, the patient/mother might have been your niece/sister or neighbor and/or child of a friend.

[quote]I mean it is quite a shock for someone to travel 1000 miles to be told the same thing 2 other RD's told the patient.[/QUOTE]

I have travel thrice that far for another opinion and/or to discuss the possibility of a new therapy or the hope of another treatment. I know families who have relocated to be nearer a treatment center or closer to the physician of choice or for a warmer climate.

Res Ipsa LoquiturNothing like a good generalization to keep the fires burning...When my daughter had cancer we got a second opinion..nobody was offended or critical. We also interviewed surgeons. We considered it a neccessity to find one who had performed the operation a lot(over a hundred times was the number we were looking for) Again, nobody was offended and they seemed to understand why it was important to us.

Lynn

I'm glad you think it was a "good" one, Lynn, LOL!

Here is our rheumatology second opinion timeline: Ped suggested we get a second opinion from the doctor who trained him, and while we waited, we had an appt. with the ped rheum. He also suggested we get a second opinion, so I told him we were waiting for one.

Well, he asked who it was with, and went bonkers. I can still see him wheeling around the room on his stool, saying "NO! NO! NO! NO! She needs a BOARD-CERTIFIED RHEUMATOLOGIST!" The horror. Two residents in there, too - one hanging his head, one with eyes as big as saucers. I said, well, that is where we are going. "But but but....I TRAIN THEM!" Yikes. Ped could have told me that.

Our dr. friend said he would get over it, and he did. Even made a call to get us in sooner, which was very nice.

That was a geat appt., and that dr. listened and understood that we weren't looking for an opinion that said she didn't have JRA, we were looking for an opinion on treatment options.

So that worked for awhile, then the ped rheum suggested again that we get a second opinion. So we agreed to that, and even went where he suggested that time. I knew going in what the outcome of that visit would be, but we did make some changes to her treatment based on what we were told there. It wasn't a waste of time, but it didn't have the effect the ped rheum wanted, I don't believe.

Twice since then he has suggested getting another opinion, but at the same time sent in a new resident whose first words to us were, "So I understand you have seen A LOT of doctors."

Ped rheumatology is such a small world compared to adult rheumatology. The only ped rheums in the state of Alabama are at UAB. Just seeing a ped rheum usually requires travel, so getting a second ped rheum opinion would probably require long distance travel.