Forsaking Fortune: Luck and Its Limited Utility to Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

This paper interrogates the concept of luck in cancer diagnosis. I argue that while it might have some utility for individuals, at the clinical and research level, the concept impedes important prevention efforts and misdirects sources of blame in a cancer diagnosis. Such use, in fact, has the possibility of harming already vulnerable efforts at ameliorating social determinants of health and should therefore be eliminated from research and clinical contexts.

Keywords

• Cancer diagnosis
• Luck
• Social determinants of health