With increasing awareness about health issues and easy access to the Internet, a vast number of people are now opting for 'doctor shopping'. This is the tendency of a patient to request care from several doctors. The latest trend is about people consulting a doctor and verifying the information on the Internet before asking questions to another doctor. Health experts say that doctor shopping, besides being wasteful of money, is also an exercise in redundancy, since most patients wind up confirming the diagnosis offered by the first doctor.
While it is a patient's right to take different opinions, doctors point to the old saying that too many cooks spoil the soup. "Doctor shopping creates more confusion in the patient's mind," said Dr Shivkumar Utture, member, Maharashtra Medical Council. He added, "Medicine is not mathematics where you get the answer 2+2=4, there may be a different answer. Every doctor might have a different opinion. But the patient's relatives should take the second opinion only from a senior doctor, who is more skilled and experienced than the earlier one."
Another demerit of doctor shopping is that every new doctor consulted might prescribe the same tests or additional tests, which would strain the patient's finances, said Dr Arun Bal, president, Association for Consumer Action on Safety and Health. He also pointed out that unverified information on the internet is the reason why many patients go to multiple specialists.
The proliferation of specialists stems from the decline of the general practitioner (GP), said Dr. Anil Pachnekar of the Indian Medical Association. Earlier GPs provided basic medical services under one roof and at a nominal charge. People did not consult a specialist without the GP's advice.
Health activist Ravi Duggal, too, rued the end of the trust between patient and doctor. He said, "Earlier, the patient had a personal connection with the GP, but now that time is gone. Currently, some of the doctors behave like shopkeepers, not following ethics. They also accept cuts for referring the patient to a particular hospital. There is no proper referral system. That is why the patient goes to different doctors for the same treatment."
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