title: [Can prevention be hazardous to health?].
abstract: Health-promotion/disease-prevention may--despite the best intentions--have mischievous effects and overlooked ethical implications. This article describes some consequences of health promotion when initiated by the medical profession as medicalization of the modern human being, problems with false test-results, iatrogenic disease, and the risk of "victim blaming". The responsibility of the medical profession includes the well-being of healthy people as well as the actually or future sick. Therefore, health promotion has to be based on the values and informed consent of the healthy part of the population.
authors.affiliation: Institut for Almen Medicin, Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus C.
authors.forename: I M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Lunde
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hafting
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Malterud
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D004995:Ethics, Professional; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D011322:Primary Prevention
vernacular_title: Kan forebyggelse blive helbredsskadelig?