For those who are interested, there’s a very readable article on the Bloomberg web site today entitled “What if what you ’survived’ wasn’t cancer?” The author expands on the idea that we might want to be reconsidering the importance of early detection of low-risk forms of “cancer” and the taxonomy of the word “cancer” itself.
So glad to see this issue emerging in mainstream media. While over-diagnosis is a great way to sell a lot of product, the cost in pain, suffering, diminished wealth, and quality of life are very, very real. Further, cancer over-diagnosis is an unsustainable business model at the public health and healthcare financing levels.
Alas, the desire to buy and sell snake oil seems endemic to the human condition. Perhaps we can just shift to a format without such long-term consequences for those who take the bait.