[Jackie07]

Since all human beings are all going to die at a certain age, why bother with all the immunization, prevention, and treatment? Why not just let everyone die in their natural course? Wouldn't that guarantee a better human race since all the ones with gene/other defects would die unborn, die premature, or die young... I would say that would be the most cost-effective way. (Many had attempted this kind of thinking (practice) since 7, 8 decades ago.)

I could agree to a guideline about not to screen everyone for brain tumor starting age 40 (or any age, for that matter.) During my struggle to have my life-long brain tumor diagnosed and treated, I had experienced the bias of sexism and racism, and problems about insurance coverage (out-of-network special contract, pre-existing condition...etc. ) We actually have had to get a lawyer to be our 'fall-back' person.

But breast cancer involves such a big population. Early detection is so crucial for prolonged lives. It's heartless/senseless to say that a 'mere' 3% extra lives saved is not significant enough to justify the more cautious/cost effective approach. For many of us who are/have been struggling to make sense of the diagnosis of this serious illness, treating us as mere numbers is equivalent to cruel and unusual punishment.

That said, I do think this is a rare opportunity to have a national/global debate on women's health. I'd like to hear more comments from people like Dr. Bernandin Healey, former Director of NIH who's responsible for the Women's Health Initiatives, the first comprehensive study on women's health.

I am breastless, childless... why should I care? Because I want my experience to be heard. I want my case to 'count'. I want to help anyone that can be helped. Chinese has a saying (commonly heard in Kungfu stories,) "Saving one life is better than building a seven-story temple." 'Saving private Ryan' was just on TV a couple of weeks ago for Veteran's Day. Listen to Tom Hank's narration, then think about the breast cancer debate. There's at least one thing the two have in common (in addition to the explanation of why Ryan's life was worth saving), "We are at war."