Medical Screening And Overdiagnosis

"In the end, science can never really fully answer whether a woman should undergo mammography or whether mass screening programs are worthwhile, be they for breast cancer, prostate cancer, or other diseases. The reason is that, no matter how much science is brought to bear, there will be no escaping that the final decision will boil down to a value judgment informed by the science and that, because, contrary to what Dr. Kopans has suggested in the past, we can’t do a randomized clinical trial of mammography any more because there would not be clinical equipoise, In the US, we are very pro-screening, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that our care is better."

A lengthy article, but worth the read.  This topic does not have black and white answers.

Mammography and overdiagnosis, revisited

Medical Ethics And Alternatives To Medicine

"It is ridiculous to look at the harms of medical treatments without looking at the benefits."  - - - "Nonmaleficence says don’t harm the patient; beneficence says help the patient. There’s a trade-off, since almost every treatment carries some small degree of risk. Not treating may do more harm than treating."

Screening Tests and "First Do No Harm."