July 1, 2014
Watch World Cup, get free skin CA screening – more hospital marketing
It’s a new twist on “having skin in the game.”
During today’s USA World Cup match, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City tweeted:

Ok to cheer for the red, white and blue.
But with these “free skin cancer screenings,” I wonder if people were told that:
- The US Preventive Services Task Force concludes “that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of using a whole-body skin examination by a primary care clinician or patient skin self-examination for the early detection of cutaneous melanoma, basal cell cancer, or squamous cell skin cancer in the adult general population.”
- The Task Force states: The majority of suspected melanoma lesions detected during screening programs are not actually melanoma, and these false-positive results lead to biopsies and possibly unnecessary treatment. In addition to detecting false-positive lesions, screening identifies nonmelanoma skin cancers and thin melanomas; some of these lesions may have little potential for malignant spread and mortality. Surgical or other treatment of these lesions could result in overtreatment.
That would start to approach informed consent.
What’s your bet that this kind of stuff was discussed?
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