Family Security Matters » Publications » A ‘Death Panel’ Surfaces

Family Security Matters » Publications » A ‘Death Panel’ Surfaces: "This week, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force announced its recommendation that women between the ages of 40 and 50 no longer receive routine mammograms to detect breast cancer at its earliest and most curable stage. This was a near-total reversal of the same Task Force’s earlier recommendations, and contrary to the advice of the American Cancer Society and other authorities.

The Task Force did, of course, state its reasons for this radically different recommendation. They used computer modeling of three large studies of breast cancer, in Sweden, Britain, and the United States. According to that work, 'For every 1,000 women screened beginning at age 40, the modeling suggested that just 0.7 deaths from breast cancer would be prevented while 480 women would get a false-positive result and 33 more would undergo unnecessary biopsies.'

The total cost of all mammograms of women of all ages is estimated as $5 billion per year, though the Task Force claimed that cost was not a factor in its decision-making. However, the very way they stated the basis of their recommendation suggests that claim is false. It is also one more example of the fact that the American media can totally miss a story which is right under their noses. There has been ample discussion of whether this recommendation makes sense. There is no discussion of how many preventable deaths will occur."