10 thoughts on “Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy — Does it make sense?”

  1. Would all the costs of Jolie’s surgery be covered by most insurance plans? It is elective, after all. It may be easy to say it’s an option, if you can afford it.

  2. I was gobsmacked.
    How can any doctor advise their patient to completely severe their breasts (mutilate, more like it) on the off chance that they may or may not get breast cancer? How do you prove those odds?
    Such throw away lines as ” But, you can have breast re-construction surgery afterwards and everything will be fine” ought to ring alarm bells. This seems to be becoming the normal kind of advice and it scares me. Really? 21st century and all? That’s the best we can come up with?

  3. The 87% –> 5% seems dispositive. But only if the 85% is only aggressive cancer. Yearly mammograms might have the same result. I don’t know. I wish Ms. Jolie the very best.

    Mr. Fumento’s essay was very good.

  4. Radical surgery is a huge decision, but “available treatments” don’t come with guarantees either. She reduced her odds of dying from breast cancer from 87% to 5% practically overnight. I’m not aware of any alternate treatement that would provide that outcome, or the peace of mind that comes with it. Seems like she made a good bet. Though I am probably biased by my own experience.

  5. “Scandal is the coin of contemporary celebrity. It keeps the public interested,”

  6. yeah I thought too how many copycats will go for it. But then plastic surgeons never go bankrupt for breasts anyway.

    expect a lot of curiously firm curves in octuagenarians…

  7. Seems drastic given her awareness and available treatment options in the event disease strikes. Worse, would hate to see her celebrity cause a rush of women to lop off their breasts… what is the purpose of the op-ed?

  8. Good, rational report. Until the end, when Fumento says, “Over half of American women are obese.” Not just fat, but obese. Really?

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