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Aspen Ideas Festival: How useful is medical screening?

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Mammogram
In this photo taken on Thursday, May. 6, 2010, radiologist Dr. Gerald Iba checks mammograms at The Elizabeth Center for Cancer Detection in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

The pros and cons of medical screening tests, from two doctors at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Is early detection of diseases like cancer always a good thing? Is it worth the fear, anxiety, false alarms, and possible over-diagnosis? The doctors say there's not just a dollar cost, but a human cost. And one of the physicians says its important to find the cancers that actually matter. Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth and Dr. Jessica Herzstein of Penn and the US Preventive Services Task Force.