second opinions

Why do patients seek a second opinion? Even when making an "evidence-based" decision, our unconscious bias towards one option or another alters how we judge the evidence -- and how long we search.
A paper was recently published in Cancer on who, and why, patients seek second opinions on prostate cancer. Despite recommendations from both the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society for cancer patients to seek second opinions regarding treatment, there is little substantive medical literature on the behavior surrounding this option.