Here's a not uncommon experience in medical care in 2016: A man goes to the doctor. He learns his PSA levels—or the amount of a protein produced by the prostate—are high, which is often the case in men with prostate cancer. The doctor can't tell him what the patient's elevated PSA reading means, and sends him to get a biopsy.
Then, the invasive and expensive procedure finds abnormal cells, but no sign of cancer. So he gets sent for a second, even more rigorous biopsy, with similar results. What does it mean? No one can tell him; no medical treatment is given.
Little has been gained in this fruitless medical investigation, yet it has cost the healthcare system a significant sum, and created considerable stress for the patient and his family. Are medical tests the solution or the problem?
