Reader question:

What does this sentence – Doesn’t your retirement plan deserve a second opinion? – and “second opinion” in particular, mean?

My comments:

It means you should perhaps have a rethink over your retirement plan being made one insurance company. Better, go seek help from another professional group, and make sure you’re getting it right.

Second opinion is originally a medical term, referring exclusively to a second medical opinion. You go to a hospital with a slight fever, for instance, after mucking in on a soccer pitch in the afternoon and going to the karaoke for the evening and all through the night. Your doctor, after running you through an assortment of examinations, gives his/her diagnosis: You’ve got cancerous tumors! Prepare for radiation and chemotherapy.

Alarmed, you go to another hospital and see another doctor.

After running you through another assortment of examinations, the second doctor says the tumors are benign, i.e. harmless.

You go home happy, relieved, and perhaps to continue with your unhealthy ways of drinking, smoking and partying through the night, naming just a few of your (probably lesser) sins.

But the point is, the second doctor’s diagnosis is called a “second opinion”, and obviously it’s important. In the case of cancer, it is believed that more Americans die from cancer treatment than from the cancer they carry.

That is partially because hospitals are set up, first and foremost, to benefit staff – patients are often considered mere clients through whom hospitals make a profit. Universities, too, are meant to benefit the staff – students are only loved for the tuition they pay. That’s why many small-time North American and European universities are enrolling Chinese students like never before because, unlike before, they’re now (sometimes the only ones) able to pay the high tuition fees.

In this day and age of capitalism, you can say the same thing about any profit-making industry but that’s straying too far from our main point of discussion.

And that is second opinion. By extension, second opinion can be used in any area – not just in the hospital – referring to a second critical analysis from a qualified source, either to confirm or dispute a previously given analysis.

Put it simply, second opinions are another point of view taken to ensure that you’re making the right decisions.

And how can one learn about a new term better than via real examples? Here are a few from the media:

1. One-third of adults in a recent survey said they had never sought a second opinion for a medical problem.

The survey of 1,000 adults by Harris Interactive didn’t ask those people whether they had ever had a serious or poorly understood illness or been advised to have surgery. But if they had, many experts say, those medical consumers were selling themselves short and possibly endangering their health.

“Doctors are not gods. Doctors are human. They put their stethoscopes on one ear at a time,” says Peter Salgo, a clinical professor at Columbia University College of Surgeons. He hosts the PBS medical show Second Opinion, which commissioned the survey.

Studies show second opinions do make a difference:

• When women with breast cancer got second opinions, 30% received treatment or testing recommendations that differed in some way from initial advice, a University of Michigan study in 2003 found.

• Patients who came to Johns Hopkins University for treatment after a biopsy elsewhere arrived with a completely wrong diagnosis 1.4% of the time, according to a study in 1999 of 6,000 cases. Doctors found that one man diagnosed with cancer of the ear canal turned out to have a fungal infection.

A second opinion on diagnosis and treatment differs substantially from the first in at least 10% to 20% of cases in which people are facing “major, life-threatening, life-altering” conditions, says C. Martin Harris, executive director of e-Cleveland Clinic (eclevelandclinic.org), an online second-opinion service.

- Second opinion counts for a lot, USAToday.com, March 12, 2006.

2. Every one has a tale about an illness that turned out not to be what it seemed. These stories are interesting because they are rare. Most of us suffer colds and though everyone knows antibiotics can’t fix a virus, we want medicine to feel better. Doctors do their best to educate parents that some things just need to run a course and if we have misgivings about doctor’s orders, we ask for a second opinion or go to a specialist.

The same conditions exist for our non human family members and their doctors. However, there is a big difference. In the case of family pets, if a diagnosis is too foreboding, because of cost or effect on the pet’s perceived quality of life, the treatment may be a recommendation for euthanasia. Because of the severity of such a decision, second opinions and specialized medicine are even more important for a pet than for ourselves.

- Sometimes your pets deserve a second opinion, too, Pethelp.net, September 23, 2007.

3. Insurance can be confusing; most clients don’t know the different type of policies, and coverages so they simply end up buying on price alone. This can be disastrous especially for Rental Property Owners. When there is an uncovered claim that ends up costing you thousands of dollars out of your own pocket only then do you realize that buying on price only is disastrous.

Chose An Agent Who Specializes: Always buy from an agent who specializes in rental properties. Each company has its own differences, cost structure and appetite. You need an agent who knows which policy suites your property the best, giving you options on choosing coverages and costs. You need an agent who can shop several LEADING carriers for you getting you both the best price and coverages that you deserve.

You wouldn’t go to a foot doctor for a tooth ache, why go to an auto insurance specialist for your rental property needs. There’s is a reason why doctors, lawyers and insurance agents specialize in different parts of their fields. Don’t you deserve a specialist?

Take Advantage Of Credits Up To 25%: Most clients don’t know that they can get credits from their insurance company simply buy asking. Depending upon the condition of the property (the newer the updates the better), your loss history you can be entitled to credits, up to 25% off your premiums. But you have to ask, or should I say your agent has to ask for you. Again, an agent who specializes in rental property insurance should be fighting to get you the credits your property deserves...

Always Get A Second Opinion: Most rental property owners buy their policy, sit it on the shelf and forget about it for years. Simply paying the premium year after year. Don’t you think you deserve a second opinion on your insurance? Let another agent, who specializes in Rental Property Insurance, compare your coverages and your premiums. You might be surprised, or horrified, just what you’re getting with your current agent.

- Rental Property Insurance - How to Get the Best Coverage and Price That You Deserve, Ezinearticles.com, January 30, 2010.

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

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（作者张欣 中国日报网英语点津 编辑陈丹妮）