I appreciate contrasting views but claiming this article will cost lives is over the top.

The article is true regarding what my licensed doctor stated to me: “We don’t do them anymore.”

Here’s a quote from an article from the Renal & Urology News organization:

“But does the DRE provide helpful information for decision-making or is it an obsolete practice perpetuated by historical dogmatism? We believe it is the latter and it is time to say goodbye to the DRE for PCa screening.”

Here are others from American Acacemy of Family Physicians, US Preventive Services Task Force, and

“Digital rectal examination — We suggest not performing digital rectal examination (DRE) for prostate cancer screening either as an adjunct to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing or as a standalone test. DRE has low sensitivity and specificity for detecting prostate cancer.”

“Do not routinely screen for prostate cancer using a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test or digital rectal exam. For men who desire PSA screening, it should only be performed after engaging in shared decision making.”

This is clearly not a universal belief in the medical industry, but there are plenty of highly-regarded sources that support it.