One of the consultants for John Oliver’s latest takedown on science reporting and health journalism was Gary Schwitzer, publisher of Health News Review. In this interview, he worries that media stories about screening tests are often overly positive. “We ought to be getting messages about the trade-offs involved, because while there is something you stand to gain in any screening test, there is also something you stand to lose. When you cast the net wide, you are going to catch what doctors often call “incidentalomas,” causing further testing and treatment that is unnecessary.”
