In this breast cancer awareness week we are once again being exhorted to go for breast screening. No need to be afraid, they say. It saves thousands of lives.
I dont go for breast screening. Partly because, for me, the chance of a false positive result is too high.
On Womans Hour this morning they were calling this 'overtreatment'. What a weaselly Orwellian word. Treatment is a Good Thing, isnt it? So too much cant be bad, can it
Well it can be. Especially if it goes as far as surgery, chemo & radiotherapy for something which, at worst, you will die with, not of. Estimates vary but some say there is a 10% false positive rate on this particular diagnosis from screening.
But isnt screening a Good Thing because early diagnosis means a higher chance of cure?
Look at this way
If we were omniscient & had before us 9 women who definitely have cancer, would we think it ethical to treat them ONLY if they could find 1 woman without cancer to undergo the same treatment alongside them?
