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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now recommending that all persons between the ages of 13 and 64 be voluntarily tested for HIV/AIDS as a part of routine physicals. Really? I wonder if they are also recommending that men be tested for ovarian cancer and that women get screened for prostate cancer.
Ridiculous, you say? It's no more ridiculous than recommending that people who are not sexually active, haven't had blood transfusions, don't do illegal IV drugs, and haven't had accidental transfers of body fluids with others get tested for HIV/AIDS.
This recommendation is nothing more than a politically correct scheme to keep certain segments of the population from being singled out. Test everyone so IV drug users and those who engage in risky sexual behavior won't feel so bad. Yeah, that's the ticket. Can't be damaging their self-esteem by recommending that they be the only ones tested, can we? Why, that wouldn't be fair! It would also appear to be – gulp – judgmental! And we all know that's a dirty word nowadays.
But this is not where political correctness in modern medicine ends. Even though it is neither the most prevalent nor the most deadly form of the disease in the general population, breast cancer gets the lion's share of the attention and the research funds. It far outdistances skin cancer (the most common form of cancer) as well as lung and colorectal cancer (the two forms of cancer that kill the most Americans each year).
Why? Because it is the form of cancer that affects women the most. That's the only reason. Don't get me wrong – I'm not attempting to trivialize or make light of breast cancer. It is a horrible disease that has claimed the lives of several of my friends and family members. I just think political correctness has been a roadblock to balance and common sense in the fight against cancer.
Speaking of cancer, many people might be surprised to learn that one of every two men will get cancer, whereas only one of every three women will get this dreaded disease. That's correct, as is the case with heart attacks, more men are stricken with cancer than are women. However, the media doesn't play up this rather inconvenient tidbit of information. In fact, one would think that just the opposite is true with all the talk about women's health, women's cancer, women's health, women's cancer, women's health, women's cancer, ad infinitum.
But if the numbers really were reversed, would it make any difference? The answer can be found in the immortal words of Sarah Palin: "You betya!" The media would be conducting investigative reports on the subject on a regular basis and there would be protests in Washington, with people demanding answers from their elected representatives. These politicians would then feel the pressure to make promises to end this awful form of "discrimination."
I know this would occur based on all the recent whining on the TV news programs about women not being recipients of organ donation as often as men are. Rest assured that nothing would be said if men were getting the short end of the stick here. Then we have all the complaining about the fact that women pay more for health insurance than do their male counterparts. I guess it's okay that men have always paid more for automobile and life insurance.
By all rights, political correctness has no place in medicine. Yet, as in the case with all other aspects of our society, politically correct thinking has managed to get its foot in the door. It's high time we kick it to the curb. Otherwise, we will begin to see it establish a stranglehold on the world of modern medicine.
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