Easly also believes and sees the benefits of preventive health screening. At the same time, we emphasize that preventive research sometimes has drawbacks and limitations. The main difference from existing medical research, is that it is usually done from a complaint. A health check often involves examinations without an immediate reason. This difference is essential, and therefore, from the perspective of medical ethics, there are also reasons for not having preventive testing. In fact, sometimes preventive testing may reveal a troubling result that requires further investigation, such as with a specialist at the hospital. If, after (costly) additional testing, it turns out that there is – fortunately- nothing serious going on after all, this will likely provide a sense of relief, but may also have created unnecessary scrutiny, stress and uncertainty for the individual.
On the other hand, preventive testing can never state with certainty that a person is completely healthy. Unfortunately, an examination without abnormalities does not necessarily rule out a possible serious condition.
Fortunately, in addition to some limitations and disadvantages, preventive health screening has many advantages. If preventive diagnostics reveal, for example, that your cholesterol or blood sugar levels are (slightly) elevated, you can often prevent worse by starting lifestyle modifications and in many cases medication is not necessary. By being there in time, you prevent severe long-term disease burden. This has great benefits both for you as an individual, but also for society and health care as a larger whole.