When my wife was working on her Master's Degree, she was doing it on writing medical how-to documents for people with lower or minimal reading skills.

She wrote something about a mammogram being painful, and the doctor who was helping her with her thesis said she shouldn't say that; people will be discouraged from coming in for the screening. He suggested she says it produces "some minor discomfort."

Her take was that if you lie to people, and say it produces "minor discomfort" and then they find out the truth (it hurts like hell), that they will be LESS likely to come back in for a second screening. She says, you should tell the patient, "it hurts like hell, but it can save your life so DO IT!" -- and you're going to get more people in more times for more mammograms.

Of course her thesis was not on breast screening, so she never had to test her hypothesis. I wonder what our Mudcat ladies think about it though? Which would make you more likely to commit to regular screenings?

curious in Seattle,
Alex