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Here are two articles on the same topic. Flip a coin to decide which you read first.
The articles are about the same length, so you may want to read the originals.
Then post your thoughts on the subject and/or the role of government.
Winona Daily News.com
Nov 6, 2011
Dr. Frank Bures
Imperfect medical tests still useful
Quote:
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is a congressionally mandated,
independent panel of experts in primary medicine that reviews
evidence of effectiveness and develops recommendations for clinical preventive medicine.
The task force decided to recommend against screening for PSA in all healthy men
after a rigorous evidence review, concluding that there is moderate to high certainty
that the service has no benefit, or that the harms it may produce outweigh the benefits.
This is called a grade D recommendation. Grade C means the service is not routinely recommended.
Grades B and A are better, as expected.
The test originally was discovered and conceived as a tool to follow the activity of prostate cancer.
It was later adapted to its current role of gatekeeper.
It only measures the presence of a specific protein produced by prostate cells,
not just cancer cells. It cannot measure the biological activity of any tumor.
It merely looks at a static point and tries to infer the nature of a dynamic process.
“If the cancer is aggressive, everyone agrees that early diagnosis and treatment are best.
The problem is that it is often impossible to distinguish between the harmless and the deadly.”
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Forbes
Nov 21, 2011
Steve Forbes
The Department of Health and Human Services' Death Panel
Quote:
We already have one. It’s called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,
a committee of “experts” appointed by the Department of Health & Human Services.
This group recently declared that men should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer.
The most common test is the PSA, which is part of a blood test.
The panel also said no to rectal exams and ultrasounds,
claiming that testing does no good, that it doesn’t save lives.
Two years ago this task force said women under the age of 50 shouldn’t get
annual mammograms—a “finding” so preposterous even the
Department of Health & Human Services ran away from it.
This latest dictate is meeting the same fate. And rightly so.
After skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer found in men.
<snip>
What’s going on with mammograms and testing for prostate cancer?
At bottom, it’s an attempt to save money. Treatments are not cheap.
The panel claims that its recommendations won’t increase mortality,
which is about as convincing as saying that letting mosquitoes proliferate
in certain environs won’t increase the incidence of malaria.
If the government succeeds in dominating health care, as it’s now on its way to doing,
we can expect more of these weird and lethal findings.
The focus will be on rationing and saving money.
What we need in health care is more free enterprise, not Soviet-style controls.
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