Have you or a family member even wanted a second opinion, but for some reason another office appointment was not convenient?

How about getting an opinion on line?

Second Opinion

What do you think?

 

Although medicine now has progressed where electronic froms of data and camera images are on par with being present, Im not sure I would opt for that method just yet.

 

My son reads X-Rays, including CTs and MRIs and sonos at home on a 19" screen. Works perfect and STAT reports are instant via a cell phone directly to a provider. In the Air Force, 6 PM to 6 AM night shift is worth the next day off. Weekend 6 PM Friday to 6 AM Monday gets you two days off. Moonlighting is worth $2k for an 8 hour night shift and up to $5k for two 8 hr night shifts on weekends. A 6 consecutive days/nights would pay 15k in Ohio and 25k in CA. There actually is quite a bit of telemedicine out there already; he would say that well-greased and proven credentialed systems would do an adequate job. But, if you have a serious or consequential problem, he would tell you to seek the best warm and fuzzy second opinion you can find.

 

I was hoping you'd respond to this. Thanks, John.

When Rick's Dad had a massive stroke, the CT scan was done at one hospital and results read by a neuro at the "sister" hospital. Kind of the same deal as an online consult. The neuro confirmed what he (Rick) had already been told by the ER doc, and the nurses. It wasn't good.

Later in the day, the family asked for another neuro consult (hands on), no change in the diagnosis.

 

I brought my mother-in-laws chest CT home from TN last spring on a disc for my son to read. The hospital would not give us results, because her family physician was out of town for a week. We told +1 the bad news, and she took her mother to another hospital the next day for another CT second opinion/confirmation, biopsy, and oncology consult.
Regarding your experience, that would seem pretty normal, being that subspecialty neuroradiology is a much less common commodity out there and the appropriate person to do the definitive read. It's a good thing when doctors know their limitations, and it's also standard of practice.
When my son was at the Travis AFB, CA hospital, they read all the off-hour digital online radiographs coming from bases in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Guam, Alaska, and numerous bases west of the Mississippi River. Major military hospitals all over the world have real-time voice and visual connectivity consults for any specialty - as needed.
You would faint to know the network the President, key Cabinet members, and members of Congress have available to them as they traverse modern and scumbag countries around the globe. Details are classified to protect the above and locations/people contracted to provide emergency and essential services, as may be necessary.
More than you needed, I'm sure.

 

I've read that an awful lot of the overnight MRI reads etc are actually done in Australia. They're on day shift and cheaper

 

Interesting, John. Thanks!

If looking for a second opinion, I do like the idea of sending MRI films or results of a CT scan, say to a doc in Boston, for a telephone consult after the tests results are reviewed. Not too many sick folks feel like traveling to Boston for a consult, this kind of thing gives them options.

On the + side in medical care, the three hospitals in our area that are part of one network, now have a working partnership with doctors in Boston for cancer treatment, heart surgery, etc.. It allows for some people to be treated at a facility closer to home.

 

Yup, it's a good thing. Many radiologists do only specific things and many others are generalists, certified in as many as 15 phases. I suppose you appreciate that some of the referrals/consults are done not only to get the most definitive readings but also to feed the coffers of scarce resources like neuro. One of the most highly prized subspecialties is mammography, because some radiologists do only those and many, many radiologists in larger cities refuse to do them at all.