Article: "Radiologists Are Reducing the Pain of Uncertainty"
Author: Gina Kolata
The article I read for current events was called, “Radiologists Are Reducing the Pain of Uncertainty,” by Gina Kolata. This article talked about how certain radiologists are starting to make a change in terms of when they are allowed to inform their patients. Previously, radiologists never directly told the patients what their scan had shown. They would first phone the doctor and tell him the news, and he could decide when he wanted to get the information to you. Now, certain radiologists have decided to make a change and tell the patients directly. This is a debatable topic, because although this means the patient does not have to wait very long for his/her results, the radiologist is not allowed to give advice on treatment or anything like that, so patients may not know what to do next. The news may be confusing to handle if you don’t have a doctor to tell you what to do, but most patients agree that they don’t understand why you can’t know the news right after the scan. There are no laws that say you have to provide the results directly after the scan, but many are changing their strategy and there is a positive reaction. On social media sites, there have been comments that say they like this change, and that this change was needed.
Although this article may not have direct significance to MY life, it certainly is relevant in some of the lives of people that I know. My godmother, and one of my favorite people in the world, recently was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went in for a mammogram and a biopsy, and they found cancer, but it was not until 3 weeks after the biopsy that she was told the news. She was very anxious for those two weeks, and she was always calling my mom to talk to her about what she thought the news was. Those 3 weeks made her more nervous for the news, and they made her more nervous about cancer. Also, those 3 weeks before she knew the news could have been used for treatment and curing her, but instead she just waited around. The doctors knew the news for a full 3 weeks, and they did not tell her or give her options. Now, with this revolution going on, my godmother might be able to know her results directly after her scan, and it will help treatment get started earlier, and it will stop her anxiety. I bet there are many people who have a hard time focusing on anything else until their test results come in, and it probably ruins that time for them, because they are so anxious. This change will help everyone.
I thought this author did a great job of incorporating her personal experience with facts and the experience of others. While reading this article, I felt that there was a real balance between quotes, explanations, facts, and personal opinion. There were also very few errors in terms of grammar and spelling. The article kept my attention for almost the whole time, because the writing was good, however, I thought the article was a little lengthy, and some of the information could have been excluded. It was exactly repetitive, but there was certainly some information that could have been condensed.By Laura Holland
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