Marty Makary on Second Opinions: recommends

Dr. Marty Makary recommends that patients question default surgical recommendations and seek second opinions. Consistent with the arguments of Blind Spots (2024), he cited examples at his September 28, 2026 American College of Surgeons lecture — such as antibiotics versus appendectomy for appendicitis, and unnecessary spine hardware — where the automatic surgical answer is not always the right one.

Makary’s stated reasoning is that showing outlier surgeons their own data reduced unnecessary spine-hardware use, and that patients who ask questions get better care. He frames second opinions as a check on low-value, unnecessary procedures — one of the four major problems he named in healthcare.

This is Makary’s position, attributed to him — not medical advice.

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