Of course they are, says this doctor:
Now, it’s a mathematical certainty (and simple common-sense) that the more the tests you perform, the higher the likelihood that at least one will be abnormal. If you perform a panel of over 20 tests for any woman, at least one (or even more) are going to be “abnormal”. This condition, when the result of the test is abnormal, but the patient is normal, is called a “false positive test”. Unfortunately, because specialists are biased and often have blinkers on, they treat all abnormalities as true positives. He is very pleased that he has finally “diagnosed” the elusive problem – and then goes about treating it. Actually, the abnormal test result is just a red herring which has little to do with the illness – but the patient is also equally pleased that this new expert has cleverly found the problem which all the earlier experts has “missed”.
