Is cancer is bad? Is impotence bad? Is death bad? When a patient approaches a doctor for help, there is presumably a less than trivial probability that something bad may happen to that patient. The goal of the physician is to decrease that probability. The ever growing body of medical literature provides information that can assist the physician, but the difficulty is in applying population-based study results to an individual patient. There is a growing trend in the evidence-based medicine community to include patient values in the decision making process. The recommendation the physician makes should take into account the degree to which a patient fears the different possible bad outcomes. To highly sexually active individual, becoming impotent may be far worse than having a form of cancer that will not cause symptoms or death. This is another example of the important distinction between having access to information and knowing how to use it. As always, a clear understanding of the goals is crucial to the appropriate use of information.