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An independent second opinion, in writing.
Before you spend thirty thousand dollars and get on a plane, find out whether you need the operation at all, who should do it, and what the whole thing costs.
An independent second opinion works like this. You send us your records. Two or three independent specialists in India review your case and each writes an opinion on whether the recommended treatment is right for you and what the alternatives are. We get net prices from accredited hospitals. Then Dr Gunjan Patel talks you through all of it in plain language.
$149 to $349, flat and indicative, agreed in writing before we start. Usually about five working days.
Who this is for
This is worth buying if you recognise yourself here.
A good fit
- You have been told you need surgery and you’re not sure you believe it
- You’re considering treatment in India and can’t judge the quality from here
- You have had a joint replacement or spinal surgery that hasn’t worked, and you’re being offered revision surgery
- You’re arranging care for a parent and can’t get a straight answer
- You have quotes that vary wildly and you can’t tell what’s being left out
- You’re on a long waiting list and want to know if travelling is sensible
Not a good fit, and we’ll say so
- You need emergency or urgent care. Go to your local emergency service now
- You want the cheapest possible price and nothing else. We’re not the cheapest and we’re not trying to be
- You want dental or cosmetic work. We don’t cover those at all
- You want us to confirm a decision you have already made. We may not confirm it
- You have no medical records and can’t obtain them. Without records there is nothing for a specialist to review
What you receive
A written document you can take to your own doctor.
Not a phone call you have to remember afterwards. Something on paper that your own doctor can read and challenge.
Two or three specialist opinions
Each written separately, each addressing the same question: is the recommended treatment appropriate for this patient, and what are the alternatives including doing nothing for now.
Where they disagree with each other, you see the disagreement. We don’t average three opinions into one comfortable answer. Genuine clinical uncertainty is information you need.
Net hospital prices, in writing
Prices from two or three accredited hospitals for your specific case, obtained on the basis that we take no commission from any of them.
Until a hospital puts a number in writing against your named case, every figure we show you is labelled an estimate. We will not quote you a treatment price as a fact.
The full journey cost
Treatment, diagnostics, flights, accommodation, a companion, extra recovery days, and our fee as its own visible line. The number that matters is the total, and almost nobody shows you the total.
A clear recommendation
In writing, in plain language. One of: this treatment looks appropriate and here’s where we would have it done; this looks appropriate but you should have it closer to home; you should wait; you should try something else first; or you don’t appear to need this operation.
A conversation to explain it
Dr Gunjan Patel, our co-founder and medical director, goes through the findings with you and answers your questions. What the specialists found, where they agree, where they don’t, and what it means for you.
She doesn’t decide anything and she doesn’t write the opinions. Her job is to make sure you understand them.
How the specialists are chosen
Criteria, not relationships.
Specialists are selected for your case on the basis of the specific procedure and condition involved, their operative volume in that area, and their subspecialty training. Not on the basis of which hospital they work for and not on who is convenient for us.
A reviewer never operates on the case they reviewed, and their hospital is not where the treatment happens. That is the part a fee arrangement cannot fix on its own: a surgeon expecting the operation to land in their own theatre has a reason to recommend it, so we take that possibility off the table rather than manage it. If two reviewers disagree, we pay for a further opinion, not you.
Every specialist is paid a flat professional fee for writing an opinion. The fee is identical whether they conclude that you should travel or that you should stay at home. None of them has a share of your case, and none of them earns anything if you go on to have surgery.
A specialist who is paid per operation has a reason to find an operation. We have removed that reason.
Willingness to pay for this isn’t our idea
Major hospital systems already sell paid remote second opinions, and patients already buy them.
Cleveland Clinic MyConsult Checked 2026-08-19.
Quoted to show that willingness to pay for a paid second opinion is already established by another provider. Not a claim about our own outcomes. We have none yet.
We quote that to show the model is established, not to borrow their outcomes. We have no outcome figures of our own yet, and we’re not going to imply otherwise.
The process
Usually about five working days, from records to recommendation.
Day 0
A free thirty minute conversation
We work out whether this is worth buying at all. If your situation doesn’t need it, we will tell you, and that conversation costs you nothing.Day 1
You agree the fee in writing
Flat, indicative range confirmed as a firm number before you pay. No hourly billing and no surprises.Days 1 to 2
Records collected securely
We tell you exactly which documents matter and help you work out how to get them. Records move through secure file transfer only. Never email, never WhatsApp, never a web form. The five working days count from the point you hold a complete set, and getting one from your own providers can take weeks, so it helps to start asking while you book: requesting your medical records and scans.Days 2 to 4
Specialists review the case
Dr Gunjan Patel frames the clinical question and checks the records are complete enough to answer it. Then the specialists write their opinions independently of each other.Days 3 to 5
Hospital pricing requested
Net prices for your specific case, in writing, from accredited hospitals.Day 5
You get the written plan, then we talk it through
The document first, so you can read it and show it to your own doctor. Then a call to go through it.
Limitations
What this can't do.
Every service has limits. A service selling honesty had better state its own.
- This is a review of documents. Nobody examines you physically, which means some things can’t be assessed at all from records alone.
- It isn’t a diagnosis and it isn’t a prescription. It’s information for you and your own treating doctor to act on.
- It can’t guarantee an outcome. No opinion, however good, can tell you what your body will do.
- If your records are incomplete, the opinion is weaker. We’ll tell you when that is the case rather than quietly working around it.
- Specialists sometimes disagree, and sometimes the honest answer is that the evidence doesn’t clearly favour either option. We’ll report that rather than manufacture confidence.
- We don’t cover dental, cosmetic or fertility treatment, and we don’t handle emergencies.
Read the full medical disclaimer.
Questions
What people ask before buying this.
Why would I pay for this when other companies advise me free?
Because, for some of them, the advice is paid for by the hospital they send you to. Ours is paid for by you. That’s the whole difference, and it is the reason we can write the sentence that says don’t travel.
See exactly how we’re paid, or read who pays for a free second opinion and how we compare point by point.
What if the answer is that I don't need surgery?
Then that is what the document says, and you have saved yourself an operation, a long flight and a great deal of money for a few hundred dollars. We earn nothing further from you. That’s the correct outcome and it is budgeted for.
Will my own doctor take this seriously?
It’s written for that purpose: named specialists, stated qualifications, clear reasoning, and the records the opinion is based on. Whether your doctor agrees with it is up to them, and disagreement is useful too. What we can control is that it is not dismissible as an anonymous internet opinion.
Is my medical information safe?
Records never touch this website. They move through a dedicated secure service, we collect the minimum needed, and you can have it all deleted on request. Health data moving between countries has real legal requirements attached and we’re taking proper advice on ours rather than assuming.
Who exactly reviews my case, and can I check them myself?
Not a fixed roster. Dr Gunjan Patel reads your records first and chooses two or three specialists suited to your specific question, once your fee has been paid and the case has started. The specialist who reviews your case is never the surgeon who operates on it, and their hospital is not where it happens. So nobody writing an opinion for you stands to gain from the answer being surgery.
Their names, qualifications and registration numbers come to you in writing as part of the opinion itself, exactly the same way Dr Gunjan Patel’s own registration is published rather than only claimed. What we cannot do is name them before that point: they are matched to your case, not selected from a public list in advance. If your reviewers reach different conclusions, we pay for a further opinion. You do not.
Which hospitals are you considering, and can I verify them before paying?
The specific hospital is part of what the opinion delivers, not something fixed in advance, for the same reason the specialists are not: it depends on what your case needs. What you can verify right now, before paying anything, is the accreditation framework itself and how to check any hospital against it yourself, covered in full on the patient safety page.
Once a hospital is proposed for your case, you get three things in writing:
- The hospital’s name
- Its current accreditation
- A direct link to check that accreditation yourself, on the accrediting body’s own register
We won’t ask you to take our word for it, or the hospital’s. Check it yourself, the same way you can check a doctor’s registration number.
Do I have to use you for the treatment afterwards?
No. Plenty of people should buy the opinion and then do nothing, or arrange treatment themselves, or have it at home. The opinion is yours. There’s no obligation and we won’t chase you.
Can I get a refund?
Before a specialist starts on your case: a full refund, every cent, no questions asked. After a specialist starts: no refund, because the fee has already paid for work that's been done, whatever the opinion goes on to say.
That’s the commitment we keep today, on top of whatever cancellation right the law where you live already gives you. The full legal wording is still being finished with a lawyer and will replace this before we take any payment. See the terms page for exactly where that stands.
Start with a free conversation, not a payment.
Thirty minutes, no cost, no obligation. If a second opinion isn’t what you need, we’ll say so.