[[{“type”:“media”,“view_mode”:“media_large”,“fid”:null,“attributes”:{“class”:“media-image size-full wp-image-1606 alignright”,“typeof”:“foaf:Image”,“style”:“”,“width”:“100”,“height”:“100”,“alt”:“New York Times”}}]]In this opinion piece for The New York Times, Dartmouth Medical School Professor H. Gilbert Welch questions modern medicine’s enthusiasm for early diagnosis.

Welch, acknowledges the good intentions behind screening healthy patients. Despite this, he writes, “The truth is, the fastest way to get heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or cancer ... is to be screened for it. In other words, the problem is overdiagnosis and overtreatment.”

Though patients with symptoms should seek medical care, Welch points out that the best kind of preventive measures for healthy people are behaviors such as diet and exercise.

Welch is also the director of the Center for Medicine and the Media at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice,

Read the full op-ed, published 2/27/12 by The New York Times.