Opinion piece from Roanoke Times

[Guest guest]

I always have felt uncomfortable with Evidence Based Medicine. On the

positive side it means that patients will get treatment that has been

shown to help a significant number of patients. On the negative side an

individual may not be one of those patients. The prostate cancer

screening issue has highlighted this for me more than anything else. One

side says we over screen and over treat but on the other side prostate

cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in men. Cancer deaths

have decreased since screening has begun. Some say it is because of

better treatments but if a man doesn't know he has cancer, how can he be

treated? Waiting for symptoms is too late. I have been pushing a good

informed individualized decision making process. Maybe with new

discoveries we can move in that direction.

*****

Opinion: Evidence-based medicine ineffective

Evidence-based medicine unwisely ignores recent advances in genomics and

screening techniques that are ushering in the era of personalized

medicine in favor of cost-based standardized approaches to treatment,

says former FDA associate commissioner Pitts, now the director of

the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. The evidence-based

medicine approach is " short-sighted " and should be replaced with

strategies that incorporate patient-centric medicine, Pitts says. The

Roanoke Times (Va.) (6/27)

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-71297

Kathy Meade

Arlington Educational Consulting

http://www.vapcacoalition.org/

http://www.naspcc.org/

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Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your

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won't come in. --Alan Alda