EN
There is a situation in which travelling is still premature but not understanding is no longer bearable. The diagnosis has been made, a treatment plan proposed, but questions remain that a written second opinion does not answer: you want to hear the doctor, ask your own question and see how they reason. That is what a video consultation is for.
When it genuinely helps
Three typical situations. The first is before the trip: you need to know whether the hospital will take your case, what it would propose and whether there is any point in coming at all. Sometimes the conversation ends with an honest “in your situation you do not need to travel, the same thing is done at home” — and that is a result too.
The second is clarifying the plan. If an operation has been proposed at home and you want to know whether there is a less invasive route, a conversation with the relevant German specialist gives you a basis for your own decision.
The third is follow-up after treatment. You are back home, you have had your check-up, and the surgeon who operated looks at the fresh results and says whether recovery is going as expected. That saves a whole trip for a fifteen-minute conversation.
What a video consultation cannot do
Let us say it plainly, because it matters more than any selling point. A doctor on a video call cannot examine you with their hands, cannot do an ultrasound, cannot take a biopsy. They work with what is already documented. A final diagnosis and a decision about an operation are therefore not made by video — this is a conversation about what is known and about what should be established next. A video consultation does not replace treatment.
How it works in practice
Documents first, then the conversation — otherwise the consultation dissolves into generalities. You send discharge letters, test results, reports and CT or MRI scans. Important: the actual image files are needed, not a photograph of the report — the German doctor looks at the images themselves. We translate the documents into German and send them to the hospital in advance so that the doctor has time to study them before the call.
Then the time is agreed. Bear in mind the time difference and the doctor’s working hours: the slot is set by the hospital, not by a convenient evening. A consultation usually lasts 15 to 20 minutes — which is not much, so it is better to write your questions down in advance, in order of importance.
An interpreter is on the call throughout. You need no German or English, and there is no need to bring in a relative who speaks it. Afterwards we send you a written summary of what was said in English — details of a conversation are held badly in memory, and serious decisions are made on them.
Cost
The consultation is charged by the hospital providing it, and the cost is stated beforehand. If you then come for treatment and the consultation was part of the agreement with the hospital, it is taken into account in the overall invoice. A consultation ordered on its own is paid for separately.
You will need a device with a camera and microphone and a stable internet connection — an ordinary laptop or smartphone will do. We send the link and instructions in advance and, if you like, test the connection before the call.
This material is for information only and does not replace a consultation with a doctor in person. Whether treatment is possible, what it will involve and what it will achieve can be determined only after an examination at the clinic in person.