Angelina Jolie and the One Percent

After learning that she had inherited a mutation on one of the so-called breast cancer genes, actress Angelina Jolie decided to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. She also plans to have her ovaries removed to reduce her risk of ovarian cancer. It may sound like a drastic measure, but mutations on the breast cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) increase the overall risk of developing several cancers, including prostate, pancreatic, testicular, ovarian, and breast. On average, a woman with a BRCA1 mutation (the one Jolie has) has a 65 percent risk of developing breast cancer and a 39 percent risk of ovarian cancer by the age of 70. Jolie’s mother died of ovarian cancer at age 56, after ten years of living with the disease. Jolie explained her medical decision in an op-ed in The New York Times, saying that she decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much [she] could.

Since the Angelina Jolie story broke, there’s been a flurry of discussion about risks, medical interventions, access to medical...