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
The tale of two “negative” studies. Or, how spin is applied to make research findings look more impressive. A must read. https://johnmandrola.substack.com/p/the-tale-of-two-negative-studies
The @nytimes chose to interview one of the editors of the @AnnalsofIM (publisher of this paper) who "gushed with extraordinary glee: It’s huge! There are very few things that reduce your mortality by 30%."
Turns out coffee is not one of those few things despite all that glee. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1533202075928215558
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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