Radical Mastectomy

My sister died of breast cancer many years ago. Cancer robbed her of easily 40 years of life, maybe as many as 50 or 60 years of life. It also robbed her children of a mother and (if they have children) her children’s children of a grandmother. I should add to this list that it robbed my parents of a child, my brother and me of a sibling, and her husband of a spouse.

This tragedy might have been averted if she had had a forewarning of her cancer. Her cancer was rare and almost certainly genetic and unstoppable. She might have saved her life if she had known and opted for radical mastectomy.

Some women do know they are at higher risk of cancer and opt for this extreme procedure. It isn’t an easy decision to make. If you knew for sure that you would get cancer, you would have to do this. But what if the risk is probability p. For what value of p would sure a radical procedure be worthwhile?

For any woman with small children, this would have to be a serious concern. Medicine is revealing more about our genetic predisposition to cancer, and you might become aware that you are at higher risk. Would you consider such a procedure?

For husbands, do we feel a conflict of interest? We love our wives and we love our children so the thought of losing a loved one is terrifying. But a husband might…ahem…have grown fond of his wife’s breasts, and if the probability p is low, he might feel conflicted. But does this really enter into the equation?

For what value of p would such an extreme procedure be warranted? Please comment.

Also, if you care to admit (or blatantly lie about) how altruistic you are, please add your comments to this growing comment thread here.