I am not a doctor, but apparently that genetic marker gives people with that particular mutation an 87-90% chance of getting cancer. Per the short news story I saw she had a 1/10 chance of NOT getting breast cancer, and since her mother died of it (ovarian I believe in her mid thirties) she decided the best thing to do was go radical. I am not defending Jolie, but I believe there is a difference between a woman with an average chance of getting cancer doing this, and a woman with a 90% chance of getting cancer doing this.
Kind of similar to a SWAT member wearing body armor always on the job, and an accountant wearing the same body armor. Probabilities.
On the face of it it does seem like a tough decision to make. It is easy to see that I am not one of those who think this is to take away from the IRR scandal. I don't think there are many women who will chop off both their breasts to take attention from a scandal, especially considering that there are far easier ways of creating news churn that don't necessitate such drastic action (e.g. someone who can allegedly chop of their breasts for Obama would be able to have a sensational orgy, with video, leak to the media).
Sometimes a duck is a duck and not a platypus.
My private equity background is showing. :)
You are right. My local news had two young women (21 and 24) who just did the same thing because they tested positive for the gene marker which gives them a 90% chance of getting breast cancer.