I have been seeing a urologist for several years. I have a a few issues, but the most aggravating is bladder stones. There have been several x-rays, ultrasounds, and procedures, culminating in an outpatient surgical procedure that was supposed to clear up some bladder stones for a “long time”. Well, that long time lasted barely a month. I haven’t talked to my doctor yet about that, but I will. The doctor has also told me to think about another surgical procedure that he says will have a much greater impact and will require an overnight stay in the hospital. And before I take that plunge, I want to talk to another urologist, especially since this last procedure didn’t do diddly for me.
Will my doctor copy all his records? Will x-rays and ultrasound test be forwarded? Will the new doctor want to redo any of the tests? I slready blew a chunk of cash on this last procedure, and paying for new tests, not to mention being poked and prodded in my privates perturbs me.
Anyone offer opinions on second opinions?
I went in for a 2nd opinion on my nasal problems. Basically I wasn’t satisfied with the rather trite way that my ENT doctor was handleing my concerns regarding a particular recurring problem I was having, so I went to my regular doctor and got a referral to another ENT. What I did in my initial meeting with the new ENT was to document my history for him. As accurately as I could, I put down every event and date that I could remember on paper and made a nice 2 page printout for him. I figured that if needed anything more, he would contact my old ENT and get the info himself. Everything went great. It ended up that the diagnosis of the first ENT was pretty much correct, but the difference was that the new ENT was very patient in explaining out everything that was going on and how do deal with the problems I was facing.
I’ve been happy ever since.
So to answer the OP, document everything that happened during your experience with the 1st doctor, print it off and bring it with you to the new doctor. He will make the determination of whether or not to get the records from the 1st doctor and also make recommendations on how he thinks you should proceed. It will then be up to you to decided to stay with the 1st doctor or go with the new one.