TY - JOUR T1 - Carry on screening JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 662 LP - 662 DO - 10.3399/bjgp08X342129 VL - 58 IS - 554 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2008/09/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/58/554/662.1.abstract N2 - The vogue for screening tests, driven by powerful commercial and political forces, is having an increasingly malign influence on our patients' health (as well as imposing a growing burden on our surgeries).In recent weeks, two patients have presented me with the results of some of the latest screening initiatives in the private sector. One had paid around £3000 for the ‘ultimate check-up’.1 In addition to consultation and examination, the check-up included ‘over 40’ blood and urine tests, audiometry, ECG and spirometry, and ultrasound examinations of all internal organs. It culminated in a ‘virtual tour’ of the body using MRI images, and offered a DVD ‘to take away, including a video of your beating heart’, perhaps to enable the anxious patient to convince himself that he was still alive — or to show his significant … ER -