I’M NOT SAYING THIS IS A BAD IDEA, BUT I’M SUSPICIOUS THAT THEY ONLY STARTED TOUTING STUFF LIKE THIS ONCE OBAMACARE PASSED: More Men With Early Prostate Cancer Choosing to Avoid Treatment.

Seemingly overnight, treatment of men with early-stage prostate cancer has undergone a sea change. Five years ago, nearly all opted for surgery or radiation; now, nearly half are choosing no treatment at all.

The approach is called active surveillance. It means their cancers are left alone but regularly monitored to be sure they are not growing. Just 10 percent to 15 percent of early-stage prostate cancer patients were being treated by active surveillance several years ago. Now, national data from three independent sources consistently finds that 40 percent to 50 percent of them are making that choice.

In recent years, major research organizations have begun to recommend active surveillance, which for years had been promoted mostly by academic urologists in major medical centers, but not by urologists in private practice, who treat most men. In 2011, the National Institutes of Health held a consensus conference that concluded that it should be the preferred course for men with small and innocuous-looking tumors. Last year, the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued guidelines with the same advice.

My dad would be dead if he’d followed this approach, which doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad for everybody. But . . . .