Mesothelioma Doctors

Choosing Your Mesothelioma Doctor

Unlike choosing an attorney if the patient feels that there is need for legal action for the exposure to asbestoses which may be the cause of the Mesothelioma, choosing a doctor or a group of doctors is a lot more difficult.

In choosing an attorney the patient can rely on evaluating the attorney's resources and performance against a well defined process for successfully carrying out a law suit. But because of all of the variables in the diagnosis, the choices of treatment, the staging and the variety of treatment plans, the choice of a doctor to lead a highly specialized team of healthcare providers is far more complex.

Health Care Plans Eliminate Many Choices

Before we can even get to the choice of which Mesothelioma Doctor should be in charge of treating the patient, we must first look at the Health Care Plan that the patient belongs to. Unless the patient is independently wealthy, the choices of Mesothelioma Doctors will be restricted to those Mesothelioma Doctors who are members of or are covered by the patient's health care plan.

The first thing that the patient or his/her family should do is to contact the patient's health care plan administration and ask for a list of Mesothelioma Doctors who are participants in that plan. When the patient or his family members contact a Mesothelioma Doctor who is a member of the patient's health plan, they should be sure to ask if that doctor if he will take the health plan's payments as payments in full. If not the patient could be left with huge medical expenses for the additional amounts that the doctor charges and what the health plan pays. Preferably, when choosing the doctor and the services he provides, it would be prudent to get a statement in writing that says that the doctor will accept the health plan's pay as payment in full for the procedures.

To some this may sound as if you are saying that you don't trust your doctor. But the truth is it isn't the doctor who does the billing and billing errors happen all of the time. And having this note in writing helps the patient keep stress and misunderstandings to a minimum.

Steps in choosing your Mesothelioma Doctor

There are several general steps that a patient and their family can take in making a choice in Mesothelioma Doctor who is familiar with the disease and its treatment. The following are some suggestions on how to proceed.

Get Recommendations

Like when choosing an attorney, recommendations from the Mesothelioma community is a valuable resource. People in the community will be happy to tell you of wonderful doctors who helped them in their battle against Mesothelioma. They will also be quick to tell you of doctors who they feel did a poor job and who should be avoided.

A recommendation for or against a Mesothelioma doctor is not enough reason to make a choice. There are other things to be considered such as is the doctor a member of the patient's health care plan. By the way, the list that you get from the health care plan provider is not a recommendation by that provider. It is merely a list of doctors who have a signed agreement with that provider. Also just because the doctor that you may be considering is not on the list provided by the health care plan does not mean that the doctor is not a member; it just might mean that the list isn't up to date. If you have a specific doctor that you are considering, call the health care provider and have them check.

Experienced in Mesothelioma

When considering a doctor one of the important criteria is that the doctor is experienced in the diagnosis and treatment of Mesothelioma. Not only should the doctor be "board certified" in their field, they should be "board certified" in the subspecialties as they relate to Mesothelioma. Since most board certified specialists are members of a medical specialty society that relates to their field of specialization, look to see that the doctor you are considering is a member.

But more important than board certifications and specialties that a doctor has is that he is currently working with Mesothelioma patients and that he has a large number of patients that he has treated in the past.

Questions To Ask About The Prospective Mesothelioma Doctor

Here are a few questions to ask about the doctor you are considering to head up patient's team.

• Does he/she have the certifications and training in Mesothelioma treatment?
• Does he have experience in treating Mesothelioma?
• How many cases of Mesothelioma has he/she treated in the past year?
• Will the doctor provide the patient with information on Mesothelioma and on the treatment options the patient might consider?
• Does the doctor treat the patient with respect?
• Does the doctor encourage both the patient and the family to ask questions and then explains his/her answers in terms that can be understood?

Here are a few questions to ask a surgeon you are considering.

• Is the surgeon board certified to perform the surgery related to your Mesothelioma?
• How many times has the surgeon performed the type of surgery that is being proposed?
• How often in the last year, has the surgeon performed this particular type of surgery?
• Did the surgeon explain the procedure to the patient and to his families?
• Did the surgeon explain the risks and success rates that the patient might expect?

While it is important that the patient and family have a good relationship with the doctors responsible for the patient's care, that relationship must be based on trust. Always trust your own feelings. But the bottom line is that, ultimately, the decision belongs to the patient and his/her family.