Australian journalist Melissa Sweet offers an alternative perspective to that given by an Australian politician who publicly encouraged men to be screened for prostate cancer based on his own personal experience.
The politician wrote: “It is an easy choice really.”
But Sweet countered:
“Actually, it’s not an easy choice at all, and someone in (his) position, of influence and with access to high quality information, should know better than to reduce such a complex health decision to a simplistic punchline.”
She offers context and background for public discussion on this issue, but also provides a look at how ugly the public debate on prostate cancer screening has become in Australia.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Case counts still matter. “(There) are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalizations and deaths are emphasized.” @garyschwitzer interviewed by @dbauder of @AP. https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76
My friend Gary @garyschwitzer wrote to his city council representative in a Minnesota town about a Viva Las Vegas event scheduled for January.
The response he got seems to perfectly capture where we are now.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/12/2021-ends-with-covid-craziness-in-sports-and-politics/
Comments
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Susan Fitzgerald
January 27, 2011 at 11:51 amExcellent – I hope you and other journalists will keep dogging this and other screening issues.
When the inventor of the prostate cancer blood test says “just say no,” it’s time to listen:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10Ablin.html?_r=1
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