
Some cancers 'better left undiscovered', Medical Journal of Australia says - elorant
https://www.smh.com.au/national/new-study-claims-some-cancers-better-left-undiscovered-20200124-p53uj6.html
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dekhn
This isn't really controversial. If your goal is to reduce total expenditures
while maximizing health outcomes, you learn pretty quickly that while
screening can detect many cancers, it does not mean you need to take action to
maximize health outcomes. In particular, if a particular cancer doesn't
proceed to malignancy, but you do surgery, the patient has a slightly higher
risk of various problems (because surgery and hospitalization carry their own
risks).

People often think "if there's even a tiny chance an intervention could make a
difference, we should do it!" without regards for cost or total efficiacy.

