Patients Lie

I saw a 20 something female patient in Urgent Care for a possible urinary tract infection (UTI). Its a fairly common diagnosis based on symptoms and a simple lab test. As I was telling her about her lab findings, I mentioned that she wasn't pregnant. She and her boyfriend were relieved but she was also surprised that we had checked for that. I told her it's done routinely on women of childbearing age because it may affect the choice of antibiotics in a situation like this.

The other reason it gets checked is because patients lie. She seemed a little shocked by this but its true. I was shocked by this myself until I encountered enough patients that do in fact lie. People lie to each other so lying to a doctor is apparently no different.

For example, I saw a patient with an unusual rash on his private area and despite a thorough Q&A session, we could not come up with a reason for it. Herpes was top of my list but as we sat there in the presence of his long time girlfriend, they both REPEATEDLY denied any other sexual partners so there was no way it could be herpes. It wasn't until I had my hand on the door knob and was ready to leave that the girlfriend casually mentioned she had tested positive for herpes a few days earlier at her doctor appointment. Surprise, surprise. We had a diagnosis in no time that was confirmed in the lab a couple days later. Unfortunately for this gentleman, it wasn't the diagnosis he was hoping for.

Patients lie.