[Comments on separate consultations for second opinions]

Abstract

Second opinion consultations are an accepted phenomenon in daily clinical practice. In well defined situations such a consultation may be welcomed as a mean to obtain proper medical counselling and advice. However, to preserve a good doctor-patient relationship it is of utmost importance for what reason and by whom such a consultation is initiated. Setting up a specific second opinion outpatient clinic, where oncological patients are welcomed without prior knowledge of the primary consultant, is medically unnecessary and may well be the wrong solution for counselling problems that may originate in busy surgeries of general hospitals.