[RobAtticus]

>Hell, didn't Angelina Jolie have a prophylactic double mastectomy?

The placement of this in your post seems to imply you think she was being stupid with her decision, or thought it was in some way "hip" to do. She has a family history of breast and ovarian cancer and has a defective gene that made her chances of getting breast cancer 87%. As she's pretty wealthy, I'm going to guess that she has pretty good doctors and didn't make the decision on a whim. Also since it was major surgery I'm going to also assume some doctor saw her at least once before the surgery and s/he didn't just take her word for it that the surgery was in her best interest.

Yes there are plenty of people who don't have a clue when it comes to medical issues, but I'm not sure why you felt the need to lump Jolie in with your other examples.

[alanctgardner2]

I don't think she did it to be hip - I'm sure she had many doctors advising her, and she underwent many tests before making her decision. But it was heavily publicised, and it set a dangerous precedent that people with less access to medical resources will send away this $100 test, see "cancer risk", and start pushing for unnecessary surgery.

[RobAtticus]

I mean, it is major surgery. There is a pretty big difference from somebody cutting out gluten from their diet and somebody getting surgery. If I decide one day I'm allergic to gluten, I can stop eating it without consulting a doctor. Similarly, as the sibling comment mentions, if McCarthy thinks vaccines cause autism she can stop getting them for her and her children without consulting a doctor. Sure, maybe some women will start pushing for unnecessary surgery, but they will also have to find a doctor who is willing to accommodate them and perform the surgery in the absence of evidence (or perform it based on a website).

It just doesn't jive with me that they are remotely the same thing. I think Jolie is a particularly poor example here and serves as a distraction for an otherwise decent point.

[tedunangst]

As a minor counterexample, Jenny McCarthy is also pretty wealthy and has access to good doctors, should she want to talk to them.