The ethics of incentivizing mammography screening
Cet article analyse les enjeux éthiques associés à la mise en oeuvre d'incitations de nature financière pour augmenter la participation aux programmes de dépistage organisé du cancer du sein par mammographie
Patient health incentives are an increasingly common policy tool and have been used widely in areas including smoking cessation and weight loss. In such cases, achieving the incentivized targets produces health and financial benefits without any risks. But other incentivized health behaviors differ. Breast cancer screening is a case in point: incentives for completion of mammograms are an ethically disconcerting distraction in a complex decision-making process. However, incentives for making an evidence-based active choice about breast screening can be ethical—even if this policy may avert fewer breast cancer deaths overall.