Breast cancer screening in older women: law and patient rights.
Legal principles that apply to breast cancer in older women have been developed in judicial decisions related to other medical screening tests. There are no special legal rules for either mammography or older women, although older women seldom file malpractice suits. The general standard is that a screening test must be offered to any particular age group when it is considered "reasonably prudent" to do so, and this almost always means when the medical profession--usually speaking though its specialty boards--declares it the standard of care. The standard of care should be set by medical professionals, with open opportunity for public input, rather than by lawyers or risk managers. In actual practice, private regulation may not be sufficient to protect the public, and both state and federal regulation of mammography facilities now seems inevitable. Patients have the right to be fully informed prior to screening, the right to refuse screening, and the right to have full knowledge of the consequences of such refusal. Mammography is not a consumer good, but American women should be actively involved in determining issues of costs and benefits, as well as helping to develop the best strategies for counseling and informed consent.
Annas
G J
GJ
Health Law Department, Boston University School of Medicine.
D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000175:diagnosis; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins