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Original poster

False positive covid test, grounds for complaint?

67 replies

WallaceandGromit · 02/10/2020 14:50

A lad who my boyfriend works with tested positive last weekend. No symptoms but had a test before being admitted to hospital for his varicose veins removing! So his whole family have been worried sick, his twin boys have had to stay off school which has been very disruptive since they're in Yr 11 and he's self employed so has lost a week's work with no pay.
He apparently had a call yesterday saying that the swab had been checked again and it was a false positive. The family are understandably pleased he doesn't actually have covid but also angry at all the disruption for nothing. Has this happened to anyone else? They want to complain.

OP posts:
Imbc · 02/10/2020 14:51

They can complain and I expect they’ll receive an apology. I doubt they’ll get anything more.

Ffsnosexallowed · 02/10/2020 14:52

Complain to who? And about what? False positives happen.

movingonup20 · 02/10/2020 15:04

False positives happen, unless there was negligence there is no grounds for complaint.

jdoejnr1 · 02/10/2020 15:06

Sounds like someone isn't being honest. There would be no reason to 'retest' a sample. Retesting the person maybe.

JunkCrumpet · 02/10/2020 15:07

@WallaceandGromit

A lad who my boyfriend works with tested positive last weekend. No symptoms but had a test before being admitted to hospital for his varicose veins removing! So his whole family have been worried sick, his twin boys have had to stay off school which has been very disruptive since they're in Yr 11 and he's self employed so has lost a week's work with no pay. He apparently had a call yesterday saying that the swab had been checked again and it was a false positive. The family are understandably pleased he doesn't actually have covid but also angry at all the disruption for nothing. Has this happened to anyone else? They want to complain.
No grounds to complain unless they were negligent. But also, I can't fathom how it would be possible (let alone actually happen) to test the same swab twice. If they did a second swap that was negative then perhaps (but nothing to be sure he wasn't positive and then negative afterwards). But I'm 99.99999% sure you can't test the same swab twice - and why the hell would they? Do you have any proof that this story is true given that it didn't happen to you or someone you personally know?
yelyah22 · 02/10/2020 15:13

Nope, you can't complain - false positives/negatives are an expected factor of most tests.

Also, them randomly retesting his sample seems odd, unless they'd happened to have had disproportionately high positive rates and wondered why, but (without knowing the exact testing format) I'd be very surprised if they can retest a sample.

Itsabeautifuldayheyhey · 02/10/2020 15:24

A lad your bf works with has children in year 11 at school?

Smacks of utter bs to me.

Itsabeautifuldayheyhey · 02/10/2020 15:27

Interesting first post though. Hmm

Myalternate · 02/10/2020 15:29

If he had his varicose veins removed he'd have lost a weeks work anyhow.
Nothing to do with Covid Test.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 02/10/2020 15:30

You should sue hun.

Myalternate · 02/10/2020 15:30

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

Interesting first post though. Hmm
That's because it's utter BS Smile
TheQueef · 02/10/2020 15:32

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey sounds bobbar to me too, they can't meet testing demand but are retesting randomly?

On a technical note though..
A lad is a lad between young lad (depending on speakers age could be anything from 2-102 providing they are younger than speaker) and 'towd lad, again depends on age of speaker and can be interchangeable with Father (pronounced as Lather.

WeirdlyOdd · 02/10/2020 15:35

Speaking as a scientist, no you shouldn't complain. False positives are an accepted risk and generally unavoidable. In fact you'll probably find there was some small print somewhere that told them so.

Surprised by the retest though - they usually have to test within a short period of time. Perhaps there was a calibration issue or something.

GreyishDays · 02/10/2020 15:35

@Itsabeautifuldayheyhey

A lad your bf works with has children in year 11 at school?

Smacks of utter bs to me.

Lad can just mean bloke.
OverTheRubicon · 02/10/2020 15:39

This sounds like he's feeding you BS. Why would they randomly retest a swab when they're already snowed under and it's hardly an urgent operation that has risk if delayed.

Much likely, surely, that he was fed up with isolation, and given that neither he nor his family showed symptoms, made up a call so they could stop isolating.

Bluetrews25 · 02/10/2020 15:40

If he had been thought to be positive he would not have been admitted and had his surgery. That's the whole point of testing, to keep the hospitals clear of covid in these areas. And then viewing it again? Nah.
Someone somewhere in this is making something up.

myrtleWilson · 02/10/2020 15:41

When you say works with - do you mean alongside - for example BF is a plumber and self employed lad an electrician? Or does your BF work for the self employed lad and therefore presumably will have been working on projects for the self employed lad so some income coming in?

But twins hey!!

CoffeeRunner · 02/10/2020 15:44

Eh?

Do you mean he was reswabbed? Because no, swabs are not retested. Not even a sample amount for quality control etc.

You do know that a positive tear followed by a negative a few days later doesn’t mean the first was necessarily a false positive?

CoffeeRunner · 02/10/2020 15:44

Test not tear.

Coffeeandaride · 02/10/2020 15:49

No you shouldn’t complain. You should be glad it is negative. Glad he is getting the surgery he needs. Glad he was informed of the problem.

He had no symptoms.

You have no idea of the stress covid situations people are in if you think this deserves a complaint.

rwalker · 02/10/2020 16:11

they never claim test are 100%

nimbuscloud · 02/10/2020 16:12

he's self employed so has lost a week's work with no pay.

But that was going to happen anyway with the surgery on the veins.

MagpieSong · 02/10/2020 16:18

Sometimes false results on tests happen. There doesn't seem to have been negligence or failure, in fact it sounds like they rechecked the test without lots of pressure/chasing up from the family? That's a good thing.

It's important to complain when something is avoidable or handled poorly. (Like when results are lost in the system due to a failure in communication - which needs relooking at - or when protocol in testing isn't followed, or medical notes are lost and that affects treatment, or specific guidance is ignored.) However, in this situation, it's down to the test, so little point expecting anything back. If you think it's a widespread issue with that particular test, it's worth making sure it's made note of, but that's about it.

Brighterthansunflowers · 02/10/2020 16:19

Why on earth would they retest the sample?

Sounds very much like someone is lying here, either the grown man your bf works with, your fb or... well, interesting first post as they say OP

AuntyPasta · 02/10/2020 16:20

Why is it always twins?