> It's a false distinction because we all eventually die... There _only are_ N-year survival rates. The metric he's discussing is death rate from the disease i

> It's a false distinction because we all eventually die... There _only are_ N-year survival rates. The metric he's discussing is death rate from the disease in question. So although we all eventually die, we don't all die from, for example, pancreatic cancer. Thus, "does it reduce the death rate by pancreatic cancer" is a notably better metric than "does it reduce the total incidence of death over the next five years." As to whether a random journalist can come up with a better metric of success than the medical profession, look at your own response to the proposal. You misunderstood, you got angry, you questioned the credentials of the source. If the medical profession in general has that attitude to outside criticism, then yes, it seems likely that they would not be using the optimum statistical measures.