State's high court oversteps in ruling on cancer screenings

WHILE IT seems incontrovertible that cigarette manufacturers have hidden the addictive and harmful effects of smoking from their customers, to require them to sponsor lung cancer screening of smokers, as in the case of this week’s state Supreme Judicial Court ruling, is unlikely to benefit anyone (“Philip Morris may have to fund tests for smokers,’’ Page A1, Oct. 20). Multiple clinical trails have shown no benefit from screening adult smokers for lung cancer, including with a CT scan. Particularly at this time, when our health care system is under review, this would be an inappropriate diversion of the community’s medical resources, solely for a judicial purpose.