Published 19 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b707
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b707

Editor's Choice

Tricky thing, choice

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This week’s cover story is a careful dissection of the information given to women who are about to undergo breast screening with mammography (doi:10.1136/bmj.b86). Three years ago Jørgensen and Gøtzsche surveyed information given to women invited for breast screening in six countries and concluded that all of it was misleading—because it didn’t mention the major harm of misdiagnosis and overtreatment (BMJ 2006;332:538). This week they and their colleagues revisit the issue—by explaining how the leaflet used in the United Kingdom still misleads. Gøtzsche and his colleagues are known critics of breast screening programmes, having long argued that their benefits are small and their harms rarely discussed. But the authors’ point here is that women are not being enabled to make an informed choice—and they offer their own leaflet instead (available on bmj.com).

Yet if it is hard for a woman to get a clear picture of . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Choice is indeed a tricky (and costly) thing for the ill-informed

Professor Michael R. Chester
bmj.com, 21 Feb 2009 [Full text]

Sound Medical Principle

David JR Hutchon
bmj.com, 23 Feb 2009 [Full text]

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