Healthcare misinformation leads to fear, avoidance and worse medical outcomes for patients, even if intentions were good. Unfortunately, a lack of knowledge and poor editing led to a published article by AARP that has produced great outrage among BRCA carriers, patient advocacy groups and the physicians who work tirelessly for these patients.

Today I want to follow up from my previous post and share with you a letter that demonstrates how unified the healthcare community is in opposition of AARP’s article. FORCE, the only national patient advocacy group dedicated to Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome, wrote a letter to AARP, and for me, the best part was the end.  After debunking nearly all of the statements made in the AARP article with fact, the letter was signed by numerous top cancer genetics programs, breast imaging centers and hospitals in the United States.  The signatures from world renowned healthcare institutions runs over two pages long.  I encourage you to take a look and see for yourself. FORCE’s letter to AARP can be found here. I would also like to sincerely thank everyone who read, wrote me and shared my latest post on the importance of recognizing that celebrities are not doctors. I am truly thankful and humbled every time a piece of my writing resonates with someone else.