> For example, detecting prostate cancer a few months earlier is often not a huge win on its own. It is even less of a success if doing so requires that four people have allergic reactions to the anesthetic and two others acquire some kind of infection at the biopsy site.
Then the doctor should recommend not attempting that type of detection.
I find it quite hard to believe that, in an ideal world (!), less data would actually be better. The doctor should still have the ability (at least in theory) to decide what information is worth investigating further, and what should be ignored.
Sure, in the not-for-profit Vulcan medical system, this would might be grand. Even in our world I'd agree that in isolation, more information is always better.
The issue is that this sort of information isn't free. The full body scan isn't free. Following up on it, which is the whole point, 'costs' increased risks of adverse outcomes (from biopsies), it 'costs' emotional anxiety, and it costs even more actual money.
The argument is that right now, these whole body scans aren't worth the cost. You're more likely to find a few things you should ignore (but will probably worry over) and a few things you should follow up on (but will be benign). You're less likely to catch something deadly and just in the nick of time.
In the US system with malpractice lawsuits, there will be followup in most cases. US Doctors are still furious over the amount of unnecessary testing that occurred as a result of the "whole body scan at third party facility" fad from a decade or two ago.
Then the doctor should recommend not attempting that type of detection.
I find it quite hard to believe that, in an ideal world (!), less data would actually be better. The doctor should still have the ability (at least in theory) to decide what information is worth investigating further, and what should be ignored.