Quote Originally Posted by pll View Post
Whoa. The research is interesting, but the NYT blog post has some red herrings: the idea some women might believe that the mammogram prevents cancer for one.
I see that kind of magical thinking all the time. In October especially, but year round. And the American Cancer Society, for one, quietly promotes it. Its Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, was just quoted earlier this month citing mammograms in a list of things that can reduce the risk of breast cancer.



cancer hits fit, health-conscious people, too
Exactly. Which is why we fit, health-conscious people need to make informed decisions about our health care, and put at least as much thought into it as unhealthy people do. Having a test because everyone is doing it - and assuming it will be negative so not having a plan of action if it is positive - is no way to take care of ourselves.


I'm not at all saying everyone has to make the same decisions I have. I'm just urging everyone to spend at least the same amount of mental energy on the decision whether or not to have a mammogram, as they do on the decision about buying a new car (hashed in depth in any number of threads here).