Medicalization and overdiagnosis: different but alike

• Published in: Medicine, health care, and philosophy Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 253 - 264
• Main Author: Hofmann, Bjørn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Disease; Education; Ethics; Humans; Medical Law; Medical Overuse; Medicalization; Medicine; Philosophy; Philosophy of Biology; Philosophy of Medicine; Professionals; Science; Scientific Contribution; Theory of Medicine/Bioethics; Unnecessary Procedures; Norway; Science; Medicalization; Overdiagnosis; Ideology; Futile; Unnecessary

Medicalization is frequently defined as a process by which some non-medical aspects of human life become to be considered as medical problems. Overdiagnosis, on the other hand, is most often defined as diagnosing a biomedical condition that in the absence of testing would not cause symptoms or death...