From: Jim Morgan 57B
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:40 PM
Subject: You could be too old some day
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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) says that if you are
75 years or older, you are too old (at an age of “competing causes of
death”) to have prostate cancer screening. In the August 5, 2008 Issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, they recommend that doctors do not screen such patients or those who have a life expectancy of 10 years or less (the time required to experience a “mortality” benefit). Their technical reason is that the psychological impact of false-positive test results could be harmful. In addition, elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening tests could lead to the discomfort of a prostate biopsy, which in turn could lead to treatments that could cause more harm than good.
As a 76-year-old recent prostate cancer survivor, I can’t agree with them. Shouldn’t everyone have the same opportunity I had to use all available medical procedures? Or, is this perhaps a not so subtle example of the allocation of resources?
Has “someone” concluded it is a waste of Medicare money not only to treat those over 75 with prostate cancer, but also to even bother testing them to see if they have it?
The good news is, if you are 75 or older, you don’t have to pay any attention to Prostate Cancer Awareness month in September.
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[JR: Welcome to the world of Socialism and Socialized Medicine! As a Libertarian, I think if you want to pay for it, you should have it. Making me pay for anything for you is wrong. We've morphed into socialism. The Old should just be put on an iceberg! Leaving their estates to the wise and caring gooferment bureaucrats who will provide for everyone! Barf!!]
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