By: Stacey Stahlman
From: laduenews.com
Mercy Hospital St. Louis is launching a new collaborative program that offers a second opinion for women with breast cancer diagnoses.
Women who receive this diagnosis are often scared and eager to promptly begin treatment. Mercy’s new program invites women whose initial breast cancer diagnosis was determined outside of Mercy to obtain a second opinion on their diagnosis and treatment options.
“Despite the sense of urgency to begin treatment immediately following a diagnosis, in most cases there is time to explore options,” said Dr. Bethany Sleckman, division chief of hematology-oncology at Mercy Hospital St. Louis. “Doctors should welcome second opinions for their patients. Even when the same diagnosis is made, differing opinions for the course of treatment can be beneficial for the patient, giving her options to consider.”
The benefit to patients is that they have the opportunity to meet with physician specialists in surgery, medical oncology and radiation oncology consecutively on the same day. Although there are no explicit cost benefits, as patients will still be responsible for co-pays associated with their appointments, the advantage is the opportunity to see all collaborating specialists in one visit, rather than making separate appointments with each specialist — potentially over multiple days.
Through this program, a nurse helps the patient coordinate all their resources, Sleckman explained.
“All of this is coordinated by a breast nurse navigator to hand hold the patient the entire way, starting with which physicians they will need appointments with based off their initial diagnosis, to what records will be needed, to attending the appointments with the patient if they would like,” Sleckman said.
Patients interested in a second opinion may visit mercy.net/SecondOpinion to complete an intake form, or call 833-404-4729. A personal breast-oncology trained nurse will contact the inquiring patient to gather information and details of the patient’s case and help determine the necessary appointments.
Patients will be seen by Mercy’s Second Opinion doctors on the second and fourth Monday of each month, beginning on Feb. 24. The program is facilitated at Mercy’s Clayton/Clarkson location at 15945 Clayton Rd. in Ballwin.
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.