Mandy Oaklander | August 23, 2026

Medical testing isn’t what it used to be. Instead of waiting for your doctor to order you an MRI or CT, for example, you can buy one yourself from a number of recently launched companies.

But should you? In his weekend essay, Dr. Matthew S. Davenport, a professor of radiology at the University of Michigan, explains why more data isn’t always better.

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WEEKEND ESSAY

Why more medical testing doesn’t always make us healthier

By Dr. Matthew S. Davenport

Lu ShaoJi—Getty Images

Today, if you wish, you can go get a staggering amount of granular data about your health without your doctor’s involvement. All on your own, you can get an MRI of your entire body, a CT of your coronary calcium, an ultrasound of your blood vessels, and maybe someday an immersion ultrasound in a spa.

Direct-to-consumer medical imaging tests are a huge and growing business worth billions of dollars. Over 100,000 Americans are already customers. But do these test results actually make us healthier?

As a radiologist, a doctor specialized in the alchemy of turning information into health, I translate data hidden in images into words that motivate behavior to promote healthier, longer lives. Because it is central to what we do, radiologists have grappled for decades with the question of whether and how information improves health. It turns out to be surprisingly complicated.

Read the full essay here.

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