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Is more information always better in making medical decisions?

In debates about health care reform, some doctors and policy wonks have argued that certain screening tests are overused. They say, for example, that women shouldn't get routine mammograms before age 50 and that men shouldn't get routine PSA tests. The problem with these tests, they claim, is that ambiguous or worrisome results encourage patients to pursue serious treatments (such as biopsy or surgery) which offer little in the way of genuine health benefits but sometimes result in serious side effects. Personally, I'd always rather have more information than not, and I'm not going to rush into a serious or unnecessary medical procedure just because of some worrisome test results. Isn't that the right attitude to have? Or is there a limit to how much information a person should seek out for medical decisions?

Anonymous , 14.04.2014, 20:18
Idea status: under consideration

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