Underestimating the Value of Reassurance

摘要

Birthdays that end in zero provoke reflection on past achievements and future plans. And as the decades advance, one's health and mortality come into focus. When I turned 50,1 wrote about my personal experience with screening colonoscopy. This year, as I turned 60, the Canadian news was dominated by the death of a high-profile politician who had previously revealed that he had prostate cancer, ran a vigorous national election campaign in the spring of 2011, and then subsequently announced a temporary leave of absence due to the illness. At that time he appeared to have widespread metastatic disease and died a few weeks later. The thoughts of many Canadian men older than 50 years (including me) turned to their risks of having prostate cancer.