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Comment
. 2019 Jan 16;8(1):12.
doi: 10.1186/s13584-019-0289-5.

Obtaining a second opinion is a neglected source of health care inequalities

Jochanan Benbassat  1
Affiliations
Comment

Obtaining a second opinion is a neglected source of health care inequalities

Jochanan Benbassat. Isr J Health Policy Res. .

Abstract

Observational studies have detected discrepancies between two expert interpreters of imaging and histopathological studies. Furthermore, in a substantial proportion of patients, an independent second opinion disagreed with the first one. Therefore, it is widely accepted that patients have a right to obtain a second opinion and, in case of divergent opinions, to deliberate and choose the option that they believe is most consistent with their individual circumstances. However, doctors are less likely to inform old and poorly educated patients about the possibility of seeking a second opinion, and this may contribute to healthcare inequalities. Hence the importance of (a) promoting doctors' self-awareness of a possible tendency to discriminate against old and poorly educated patients, and (b) creating programs within the healthcare system that would help patients in seeking a second opinion, suggest specialists for the specific problem of the patient, and provide tools to reconcile between discrepant opinions.

Keywords: Doctor-patient communication; Health policy; Health seeking behaviors; Second opinion.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors’ information

Jochanan Benbassat was a staff physician at the department of Medicine at the Hadassah University Hospital between 1962 and 1992, and since 1983, Professor of Medicine and chair of Medical Education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1992–1997, he was head of the department of Sociology of Health and chair of Behavioral Sciences in Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Beer-Sheva. Since 1998, he is a research associate at the Health Policy Research Program of the JDC Meyers-Brookdale Institute.

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Not Applicable.

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Not Applicable.

Competing interests

The author declares that he/she has no competing interests.

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