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If money was no object, should you run every medical test?

Name: If money was no object, should you run every medical test?
Description: A doctor from Medlife Crisis explains in under three minutes why even a rich patient should not simply order every medical test, touching on pre-test probability and Bayesian reasoning. False positives make blanket testing counterproductive.

Medlife Crisis

5 videos recommended on HN

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2 HN users recommended this explainer2 months2019–2024 score 2

Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN people link it as a short, funny and accurate explanation of why over-testing and over-screening can do harm.

A doctor from Medlife Crisis explains in under three minutes why even a rich patient should not simply order every medical test, touching on pre-test probability and Bayesian reasoning. False positives make blanket testing counterproductive.

“An under 3-minute video by a funny and informative doctor explaining this” (HN, 2021)

2 recommendations · 1 citations · Explainers

Medicine & infectious disease Probability & game theory Explainers Life Sciences, Mind & Health

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@joosters Mar 2019 Recommends

on HN thread I Now Have a Cardiologist

There's a great (and short) video suggesting why it's not a good idea to run as many medical tests as possible, and it's not because of the cost: [this video]

Short video on why over-testing is not a good idea

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@tasty_freeze May 2021 Recommends

on HN thread Are we screening too much for skin cancer? It's complicated

An under 3-minute video by a funny and informative doctor explaining this (youtube handle "medlife crisis"): [this video]

Short, funny, informative explanation of medical screening

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Citations, criticism and jokes

@user_7832 Mar 2024 Cites it

on HN thread FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

I get your point, however I think there are a few confounding things. For a lot of people, if you get a positive result from a test that a doctor brushes off that's not going to go well. I'm very much in favor of more testing personally, there are almost certainly folks who're on SSRIs who'd benefit more from Vit D/Mg supplementation for example. Another thing I seem to remember in his video was that a tumor is not necessarily dangerous. Out of a hundred (say) tumors in a person's life, only maybe 5 are risky. But I'm paraphrasing this badly. Edit: [this video] is one of the videos, however I think he's talked about this more (likely on instagram or another video too).

Notes that a tumor is not necessarily dangerous

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