Martin A. Makary, a surgeon and public health researcher at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, had a long talk with a patient last week. The man had a tumor in his pancreas that was probably benign but might not be. Should Dr. Makary remove it? Or should the man have regular scans to see whether it grew?

“If you’re 25, the decision is easy — get rid of that risk,” Dr. Makary told me afterward. But this patient was 89.

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