Ask HN: How to choose which dentist or doctor to believe?

[tmamic]

When you get a medical opinion, you have to rely on the medical expertise of doctor. You don't have a better option. If you get a second opinion, and it is the same as the first one, you intuitively know it's more trustworthy. But what happens when the second opinion contradicts the first one? Who do you believe? How do you rank each scenario by the "trustworthiness" of opinion? How would one go by valuing the trustworthiness of multiple differing opinions, as is common in dentistry?

[muzani]

One instinct I've learned from software engineering and the internet is that professionals are often wrong. The symptoms of a bad doctor are very similar to that of bad developers. Same with bad cooks, bad contractors, and so on.

The main symptom is contempt. You ask them a few questions or mention a second opinion, and their face turns into a scowl. Some are outright insulting, saying that X is a moron, without having enough information to make that judgement. Whenever I meet a doctor like this, I look for a second opinion, and very often it contradicts.

The next is buzzword. My child had a fever for a very long time and was hospitalized. A good pediatrician said "It could be Kawasaki disease... but it doesn't meet any of the other symptoms". A not very good one said "It's definitely Kawasaki disease, can't be anything else."

The third is well, passion. I know everyone hates the word, but I find a correlation. The worst doctors I've met are often trying to do anything except their job - they pitch unnecessary supplements, overcharge, talk about their stock investments. The great ones try to make you healthy; they end up undercharging, recommend cheap alternatives to their pills, volunteer for charity organizations, waive their consulting fees, and so on.

I realize this is a very subjective and biased way of looking at it, but it's worked well for me.

[tmamic]

Some people are unable to control their emotions in stressful situations. You can't really know if someone is outraged by you questioning their authority or by the fact that you clearly don't want to hear the truth. Or by their inability to counter other doctors who woo patients with sweet talk, although obviously doing poor medical job.

Some people can't suppress bad habits like using buzzwords. Maybe they have been taught to use them, maybe they are just too good at what they do to need worry about convincing you. Some people are great actors, and will make you believe they are truly passionate about their job. This is what I am talking about: https://medium.com/incerto/surgeons-should-notlook-like-surg...

[sloaken]

Like emteycz I check the science. I will also ask others who might have the same issue. And depending on severity get a 3rd, 4th, or even 5th opinion. Like emteycz said: Its your health. Of course this depends on how serious the issue is. Often its an issue where both can have valid solutions. Or there could be something one missed that the other caught.

[tmamic]

So, in order to do your job of maintaining your health, you need need to do all of these jobs:

1. Learn about the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of your health problem 2. Assess the severity of the health problem 3. Learn about the experience of other people 4. Get multiple opinions

Bonus: 5. Learn about multiple valid solutions 6. Find doctor's blind spots

While doing all that, you pay for healthcare, which includes all that. You pay a doctor to know no1, do the no2, remember no3. You then pay for multiple of them to do the same.

But then you still get to the point where you have to decide who to believe. And it would be easy if 4 of them say the same thing. You can be pretty sure they are right[1] because statistics. But what happens when they give multiple differing opinions, like here [2].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13BD8qKeTg [2] https://digitalsmiledesign.com/files/Old-Website-Assets/PDF/...

[emteycz]

If opinions differ, I go check the science.

[tmamic]

Do you really do that? It feels like a lot of wasted time...

[muzani]

My wife does this too (she's of engineering background). It's surprising how well this works even with a quick search. Many times even the doctors have asked her whether she's actually a doctor.

It's also useful for having proper discussions. The doctors will discuss the details they're unsure about, which also helps you in discussing with the next doctor. If one doctor is very sure about one thing, and another isn't, that's a yellow flag.

[giantg2]

That could be a yellow flag in either direction - a less knowledgeable person might be overly confident, or the less knowledgeable person might be unsure.

[rdtwo]

Honestly for gp not sure and consults a source and a database is my preferred option. The publication are going to be more up to date then what’s in your doctors memory banks from med school over a decade ago

[giantg2]

I would like that too. It seems like none of them have the time or incentive to do that though.

[emteycz]

Yes, if it's about my health, finance etc, I go check the science. I don't factcheck all opinions I hear, I don't care about the majority of it (actually I try to not even hear it if it's not relevant enough to warrant checking the science).

[giantg2]

I agree. PubMed is a great resource for this.

[sassycassie]

I've had this happen to me b4 and honestly I got a third opinion... But truly, u just gotta trust yourself. you know your body, so if a doctor is telling u things that ur unsure of, u needa ditch them.