Operation Successful, But the Patient Died

"Last week, one simple health message dominated the US media: radical prostate surgery for prostate cancer saves lives. The media were reporting the results of a Swedish trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine yet the trial showed no such thing," reports Jeanne Lenzer. In reality, observes Dr. Otis Brawley at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, "men who have prostatectomies just exchange one form of death for another within six years." Dr. Ivan Oransky, who teaches medical journalism at New York University, explains the spin in plain terms: "If you read the New York Times headline you would be left with the impression that having a radical prostatectomy would lead to a decreased risk of death, but the study showed no such thing. It reduces your risk of death from prostate cancer but that's not necessarily a positive finding. For example, if I were to say, 'Listen we have a great new procedure for people with inoperable brain cancer -- we're going to cut off every one's head and then I can absolutely guarantee that you won't die of brain cancer,' that wouldn't prove very much, would it?"