MAMMOGRAMS-PART 2

So, the new guidelines are recommendations based on science. Sounds reasonable, but........ also recommended was that doctors cease doing or teaching women how to do a breast exam. The reason? Now here is where it gets just stupid.... It's not worth the doctor's time! The whole breast exam takes under 5 minutes. The instructions could take maybe 2-3 minutes. This is not worth the doctor's time???? The instructions, I assume, would be a one-time thing. A young woman's life is not worth her knowing how to do a breast exam???

Another issue raised because of these recommendations is that women, in their 40's, would suffer emotionally while waiting for mammogram results, suffer emotionally if they got a false positive and suffer emotionally with a follow-up exam that may prove to be negative. What? Does this panel think that women are that fragile, that stupid, or that intellectually devoid of the ability to think?

And now that these recommendations are public, it didn't take the health insurance companies long to state that they are already thinking of adjusting their coverage to exclude payments for mammograms for women starting at age 40.

Apparently, not even one of the panelists was a breast cancer expert. Talk about a "stacked deck," no pun intended.

How about a strong recommendation that every women, at age 40, get a paid mammogram to be used as a baseline. Then one paid mammogram every 3 years from then on unless a lump is discovered. Wouldn't that be more practical?

THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS

What happened to preventive medicine, preventative care? The United States Preventative Services Task Force recommends women get mammograms at age 50 instead of 40 and then screened every other year. Breast cancer is a major killer of women. Why shouldn't women have every available weapon to detect it at their disposal AND paid for by their health insurance?

Isn't it true that the earlier a lump is detected the better? Why in hell's name should this be taken away from women? There is no doubt that the insurance companies will stop paying for mammograms for any women under 50 because it will help their bottom line. There are a lot of women under 40 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. What do they do now?

Early detection has been a medical mantra for a long time. And the new guidelines are backed up by science. But, how many women under 50 will die if they do not get mammograms and don't their lives matter? This is simply OUTRAGEOUS! The science and the personal horror stories have to be melded into a reasonable, workable program that doesn't sentence younger women to a shortened life.