Media coverage of information presented at medical meetings often fails to qualify the findings reported, and scientists and the media need to develop a better working relationship to ensure the accuracy of early-stage research reports.
Physicians have a duty to learn the facts and use their medical expertise to allay patients' fears rather than order unnecessary tests when a certain disease or condition receives a great deal of media coverage.
We consult our doctors for expert medical advice, not phenomenological analysis, but perhaps a wide gulf ought not separate empirical science and research from phenomenological reflection and analysis on illness.