How Do I Choose the Best Breast Cancer Specialists?

Since breast cancer is such a serious diagnosis, you may not feel comfortable with just choosing a specialist out of a phone directory or accepting your primary care physician's referral alone. Instead, you may prefer to seek recommendations from various medical professionals, friends, and family members. You may also use online reviews and doctor-information websites to compare breast cancer specialists. Additionally, you may visit the breast cancer specialists you are considering for consultations, which may help you narrow your choices.

Breast cancer can be complex and has the potential to be deadly. In light of this, it is usually important to choose the best breast cancer specialist you possibly can. While you can look in a local phone directory or online to find breast cancer specialists, you may be better served by seeking referrals. For example, if you know someone who has struggled with breast cancer in the past, you may ask her for a recommendation. Likewise, you may ask a doctor you trust to refer you to a breast cancer specialist he believes is one of the best in the field.

While referrals can provide you with at least a couple of good breast cancer specialists to consider, you may not want to choose based on referrals alone. Instead, you can look online for reviews of the doctors you are considering. If you find that one of the specialists who was recommended also has excellent online reviews, you may feel more confident about seeking care from him. Likewise, you may find the information provided on peer review sites helpful when you are choosing a breast cancer specialist.

You may also use a website to help you compare breast cancer specialists. For example, there are many websites that provide information about doctors, including the years they’ve been in practice and their specialties. These websites might also provide information about where a person received his medical education and where he completed his residency. Sometimes these sites will also list whether a particular doctor has been the subject of disciplinary action in the past.

Sometimes you cannot tell how comfortable you will be with a doctor until you’ve had the chance to meet and talk with him in person. For this reason, you may arrange consultations with a couple of the breast cancer specialists you are considering before you choose one. This will give you an opportunity to explain your case to these specialists and determine in whose hands you will feel most comfortable. For instance, if one of the doctors seems overly rushed or unwilling to answer your questions, you may decide to cross him off your list.