4 ms·

Solution -> never show a scan to a doctor who will over-react to an incidentaloma

• astura 9y ago
  It's not "overreacting." If you do a scan in someone asymptomatic and see a tumor it's oftentimes completely impossible to know if it's a "turtle" or a "bird." They can look exactly the same and we don't have a crystal ball.
  • paulsutter 9y ago
    Just wait and see how it develops. My doctor agrees, you could check with yours. By your argument, if there's no need to scan, there's no need to treat it right away either. Of course, if you are the sort of person who is prone to panic, you probably don't want to get a scan
• emiliobumachar 9y ago
  That doctor needs to be somehow shielded from lawsuits, or they'll be incentivised to give undue weight to the risk of leaving something real untreated.
  • paulsutter 9y ago
    Good point. Of course, the overdiagnosis is then caused by the legal environment (not the scan). As an individual of course you can always sign a release for your doctor. If he seems uneasy about nontreatment, just write a letter to release him from liability for nontreatment so he knows he can relax and actually consider your wellbeing rather than liability.
    • emiliobumachar 9y ago
      Interesting. But you also don't want to bias them toward nontreatment (do you?). I wonder if one would get better outcomes in lawsuit-heavy countries by just starting all interactions with health professionals by handing out unsolicited full liability releases like candy. "I want you to do what you think can work, not what is easy to justify if it fails." Maybe only if one has a particularly difficult health condition.