Guys, this is not a “Hollywood weirdo” kind of thing. Long before AJ, many other women already were making the same decision - prophylactic surgery - based on genetic testing. AJ was not the first. You only heard about it for the first time because she’s so famous.
Furthermore, believe me, oncologists recommend (even push) genetic testing on women with family history, and then they recommend prophylactic surgery to BRCA-positive patients. They’ve been recommending it for years. I’d even say that most oncologists push that surgery.
Of course, the patient can refuse to have it done. It’s a personal decision, and it’s not for everyone. It’s a brutal decision not taken lightly. But it’s a perfectly rational and intelligent decision. To say otherwise is just as wrong as saying that women who don’t make the same choice are being irrational.
For the record, I’m not a big fan of AJ. Then again, I’m even less of a fan of guys who talk as if they know something about what women should do about breast cancer. Notice we’re never on prostate cancer threads talking about what men should or shouldn’t do. LOL. I’m just sayin’.
Men were pushed into ineffective PSA tests but although they were ineffective, they were easy. The prostrate exams are not fun (I have heard). Men (and also women) get the invasive kinds of colonoscopies where they slice and dice "polyps" that are more than 99% benign. Personally I am going to think long and hard about that one before letting someone subjectively analyze my polyps through a scope. I like my polyps (if they are benign), no reason to remove them. Removal is mainly driven by the pervasive myth that cancer follows some progression starting with abnormal growth. But it does not.