Happygram

Storyline

Happygram explores the deadly impact of withholding material medical information from 40 million women each year who obtain screening mammograms for the early detection of cancer. For the 40% of these women who have dense breast tissue (15 million women), mammograms are an ineffective screening tool, missing up to 75% of cancers in dense tissue. Each year, thousands of these women die as a result of the missed cancer. Despite the evidence of mammographic ineffectiveness in these women, if no cancer is detected on the mammogram, most women were informed that their results were 'normal,' or 'negative.' The information is communicated in a letter that is mailed to each woman, sometimes on pink paper. This letter has come to be known as the 'Happygram.'