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Michael J. Quinn, MD
Towson, Md

JAMA. 1991;265(20):2669-2670.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor. —

Schapira and Urban¹ raise an important question regarding whether our intuition and desire to do more is leading us to serve our patients well.

I found the Wertheimer² commentary in response extremely disappointing. A factual error in the first paragraph casts doubt on the reliability of other data presented: "Approximately 10% of women in the United States (150 000) will be newly diagnosed in 1990 as having breast cancer...." (The number 150 000 is correct, but the percentage quoted would suggest that there are 1.5 million women in the United States, a number not consistent with a US population of 250 million.³) Wertheimer mounts arguments against straw men. For example, he lists reasons for follow-up of patients with breast cancer other than for assessment of the original breast cancer. Citing such a list suggests that Schapira and Urban discouraged such care, which is . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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