I know Sloan-Kettering can be very responsive when the situation is serious -- we called them on June 30 of this year (for a second opinion on a Stage IV DX) and they set up a morning appointment with head of department for July 5, the day after the holiday. His office admin asst called us on the Friday to be sure we had info on transportation, directions and also, if we needed accomodations. They did want all his scans and I had to drive to hospital where my husband's surgery was done for his pathology slides, otherwise it was pretty painless to get the second opinion.

And Brian is right, it should be expected to get 2nd opinion in serious cases; our Hopkins doc was the one who suggested the various potential consults and was in no way offended by our request.

Gail