Last November, it was Matt Lauer and Al Roker having their prostates probed on live TV via digital rectal exam.
This November TV sweeps period – today to be precise – Willie Geist and Carson Daly had their testicles probed live on the air.
The common denominator: the prober was telegenic, media magnet Dr. David Samadi, who runs a robotic prostate surgery center in NYC.
If you have nothing else to do with the next 8 minutes, watch the Samadi show.
Click the image to see Willie Geist and Carson Daly undergo live testicular exams to check for cancer
Samadi was not challenged when he said, “We want all men between ages of 20-40 to do self-examination because when you catch testicular cancer, like any other cancer, early, it’s curable.”
In his continued pattern of nightclub humor, Samadi asked the two personalities, “Who’s going to play ball first?” After one guy went in for the exam, Samadi said, “The ball is in his court.”
Man, it’d be nice if we had more balanced information and less schlock.
Samadi encouraged men to do self exams once a month.
But Samadi has a vested interest in this.
What does the US Preventive Services Task Force say about testicular self exams? It’s simple:
“The USPSTF recommends against screening for testicular cancer in adolescent or adult men….There is inadequate evidence that screening asymptomatic patients by means of self-examination or clinician examination has greater yield or accuracy for detecting testicular cancer at more curable stages. …Screening by self-examination or clinician examination is unlikely to offer meaningful health benefits, given the very low incidence and high cure rate of even advanced testicular cancer. Potential harms include false-positive results, anxiety, and harms from diagnostic tests or procedures.”
Imbalanced and incomplete information has become the norm for NBC Today show screening promotions. Viewers deserve more and better.
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Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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