Lung cancer screening can save lives, but fear of judgment can keep people from making an appointment. In an opinion piece for BK Reader, Dr. Jason Shaw, director of General Thoracic Surgery and the Lung Cancer Screening Program at Maimonides Medical Center, explains why replacing stigma with understanding is essential to helping more patients receive care.
Dr. Shaw recalls a 68-year-old patient with a long smoking history who stopped attending annual lung screenings for six years. During a routine mammogram visit, her physician encouraged her to return, presenting lung screening as another important part of preventive care. That supportive conversation helped her overcome fears about both a possible diagnosis and being blamed for it.
“Her absence from screening for six years wasn’t due to lack of access or information alone,” Dr. Shaw writes. “It was driven by fear of what might be found, and shame that if something were found, it would confirm a personal failure.”
Dr. Shaw calls for making lung cancer screening as familiar as mammograms and colonoscopies, while addressing insurance, language, and other barriers that can delay care.
At Maimonides, our Lung Cancer Screening Program uses low-dose CT scans to help find lung cancer early, before symptoms appear, when treatment can be more effective. If you currently smoke or smoked in the past, talk with your doctor about whether screening is right for you.
Learn more about the Lung Cancer Screening Program and lung cancer care at Maimonides Cancer Center, and read more from BK Reader.
About Maimonides Health
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, providing more than 1 million patient visits each year through the system’s three hospitals, 1,800+ physicians, and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. Our system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties; Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical–surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center.
Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including our Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. For additional information, please visit www.maimo.org and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.