Dear Women’s Imaging Insider,
There’s an Old World fairy tale about a town in the grip of a famine. The citizens choose to hoard the resources that they have, thus depriving the community as a whole from being fed.
One day, a soldier strolls into town, and sets up shop in the main square with a giant pot of boiling water. He tosses in a rock and declares that he is going to make stone soup. The villagers get wind of the fact that dinner is in the works and, proceeding to the bubbling pot, add items from their personal stashes -- cabbages, potatoes, carrots, beef, and so on. In the end, the entire village enjoys a square meal. The moral of this story, of course, is that by working together, a greater good can be achieved.
Like the villagers, the breast cancer screening community is facing a crisis. There’s a rising tide of suspicion as to the efficacy of mammography; criticism that too many mammographers are doing a sub-par job; merely adequate compliance rates among women; and, in the U.S., dismal reimbursement rates.
But given the resources that mammographers have at hand -- their expertise, their experience, their commitment -- what’s stopping them from gathering together to fix these problems? Perhaps it is simply a matter of someone coming along and tossing a stone in the pot.
To that end, Dr. Phillip Berman, the founder of AuntMinnie.com, offers his take on how to make mammography work, including suggestions on dampening the fire that fuels a roaring litigation business, and rekindling the interest of residents in breast screening. His ideas may not be palatable to all, but they certainly offer food for thought. Check out his editorial here.
As a Women’s Imaging Insider, you have an exclusive opportunity to stir the pot with your own opinions on this controversial topic. Whether you chose to respond directly to the editorial, or bring completely different theories to the table, we want to hear from you.
You can e-mail your comments to [email protected] or fax them to 415-908-2144. Please be sure to include your full name, city, and state. Submissions will be edited for space and clarity.
Then check back with the Women’s Imaging Digital Community on August 29 to read the responses.
