Joanne Is Struggling to Make a Decision About Her Health

Essay

Joanne is struggling to make a decision about her health care. She can't decide whether to get screened for cancer with a mammogram. She has read in some popular magazines that there are risks related to getting mammograms, things like false positives and X-ray exposure. Her friend told her about someone she knew who had a needle biopsy because the mammogram showed a tumor and there was no cancer, but she got a bad infection from the biopsy. Joanne doesn't know anyone who has been saved by getting a mammogram. She is leaning strongly toward not getting any mammograms. What type and quality of evidence does Joanne have so far? How would you advise she gather and evaluate information? What should she do to think critically about the information, and make her decision?