My word should have been enough

[EthelsAuntie]

A couple of weeks ago, I was admitted to hospital. I had severe abdominal pain, no appetite, being violently sick, couldnt even keep water down. I hadn't been to the toilet for a wee or a poo for at least 24hrs.
The dr wanted to send me for an x-ray of my tummy but wouldn't send me until I got a confirmed negative on a pregnancy test.
I repeatedly told them that I wasn't pregnant. I knew that I wasn't pregnant. However because I'm married they said they needed to do the test. This seriously held up proceedings. They had to put me on a drip. They probably would have done that anyway. But they had to wait for hours until I was able to go for a wee. Then they did a test on it and only then did they request the X-ray because lo behold I was not pregnant.
It turned out to be extremely serious and I needed emergency surgery that took 5 hours.
AIBU to have felt very strongly that they should have taken my word for it. Make me sign something to say that I wasn't pregnant. Fine. Don't just dismiss me because I'm of childbearing age.
I also wonder what would have happened had I been pregnant. Neither I nor a fetus would have survived what the actual problem was had it been left untreated.
It was an awful time and I have to say the constant asking and not taking my word for it did not help. I was feeling like shit. I am a strong, intelligent woman in my 40s but I felt I didn't have a voice to be listened to.

You must be very naive to think that someone just won't lie.

I'm not. But i'm also not stupid enough to think that a woman who has had a hysterectomy - and probably has a scar to prove it if it's not in her notes - could be believed? There are better ways to do this than just say "oh you're married, pregnancy test"

Also: if she were pregnant - but still needed life saving treatment what then? Or do we have to sacrifice a woman in favour of a foetus/embryo? who makes that decision? sadly I think we know the answer to that one too

So.. a bunch of cells, ie, a potential person... is more important than me, an actual person.

And.. a Dr being sued for injury/death of a potential person is also more important than me, an actual person.

Good to know so many women still happy with that!

If I say I am not pregnant, then I am not - I am not stupid.

If I am stupid or have a reason for lying and I choose to sign a waiver saying I'm aware of the risks to the potential person - that's still my right as it is MY body.

YANBU OP - I have had Drs ignore me saying that due to the lack of PIV sex, I couldn't be pregnant, and insist on a test which has caused me significant risk and discomfort.

Do you have a job OP that involves working with the public? I’m guessing not because if you do you would realise that a lot of people lie, think they know but they don’t or are just a bit dim. If they didn’t do a test and you found out you were subsequently pregnant and the X-ray damaged your unborn baby, then I’m sure there would follow a lawsuit against the hospital for not following process.

They were doing their job. Could have been an ectopic pregnancy. Intelligent, independent women sometimes don’t realise they are pregnant.

It’s a tough one. I had a dental x ray and removal of amalgam filling (both contraindicated in pregnancy) because I ticked the box saying I was not/could not be pregnant. Because, despite TTC, my period had just started on the usual date.

My ‘period’ stopped a couple of days later and I found out I was indeed pregnant . Luckily, child is fine several years later

So I get that even the surest of the sure can be wrong. That said, and after all that waffle, I do think your word should have been good enough, even if you were made to sign something

@Tomnooktoldmeto

I don’t agree, had you been in a collapsed state you would have been rushed to theatre without a pregnancy test, the fact they risked this when you were shut down and dehydrated increased the risk of poor outcomes for you and any potential foetus

Pregnant women still undergo emergency surgery and the usual protocols would be adhered to

Agree. It seems like another instance of treating a woman if she's too stupid to know what she's done with her own body.

In any event, if you need the treatment, that should come first.

If you were scraped off the road after a car accident they'd do an operation regardless of whether you've eaten or drunk recently. To save your life, or stop further damage. So I can't really see how this is any different.

Hmm, if I was in an emergency situation, I'd want my own health to be prioritised over a potential foetus, even if there wasn't a direct risk to my life. Damage to quality of life caused by delays is important too, not just whether or not you survive.

I also feel it should be my choice to make that decision, not the healthcare professionals'. I agree with the OP that there should be a waiver you can sign to say you accept the risks if you actually do turn out to be pregnant.

They literally could have checked your notes to see it wasn't possible its ridiculous

@MrsSkylerWhite

They were doing their job. Could have been an ectopic pregnancy. Intelligent, independent women sometimes don’t realise they are pregnant.

Sometimes. But usually they do. And they know if they've had sex recently (or not) or had a hysterectomy.

My very much non-sexually active 15 year old had to do a few pregnancy tests when she had appendicitis - one in A&E and the other on the ward before the op - just in case she’d somehow managed to get pregnant in the short time between being admitted and the operation.

I understand that lots of kids that age are sexually actively but if you knew her you’d realise how funny this was 😆

I can understand your frustration though OP

I feel your pain. I often think about this actually, when thinking about seeing a dr re lower back/around coccyx pain, and X-rays.
I experiencet long ago that my very young cousin /12-13yo at the time, long time ago, in a country where teenage pregnancy isnt an issue like its in the UK/ was told she cant have a certain X-ray done because they only do it at certain time of the ms cycle and she had to come back.

It fills me with rage just the thought of someone telling me they cant do a whatever procedure on me because THEY think I might be pregnant when I KNOW I am not and cant be. I hate being a brainless thing that doctors feel entlitled to handle as they please. I really do.

However, I have learnt that there are a lot of people who are different to me and lie to they doctors or employers so dont know how to solve this problem. I would have thought that you signing a document stating you are not pregnant and you are fully aware of the situation should be the answer.

I had to go for a CAT scan 5 days after I'd given birth. The radiographer asked me if I was pregnant, fully knowing I'd been wheeled down there from the postnatal ward....

Today 11:08 yellowsuninthesky

MrsSkylerWhite
They were doing their job. Could have been an ectopic pregnancy. Intelligent, independent women sometimes don’t realise they are pregnant.
Sometimes. But usually they do. And they know if they've had sex recently (or not) or had a hysterectomy.“

Something monolithic like the NHS can’t tailor guidelines to every individual circumstance.

My daughter had to repeat im gay to her Dr's a lot they said but just in case? In case of what? I'm gay I've never had sex with a man I don't want to I have a chest infection I'm not pregnant! (she presented breathless and her inhaler wasn't working for her classic signs of an infection not pregnancy) at one point the NHS seemed obsessed with pregnancy tests they asked me I said I haven't had sex for ages she said over five years? I said over one would do it the student sniggered but my point was taken (and yes it was over five)

I went to the GP about something and they sent me for an x-ray. She paused as she handed me the note to take.
"We have to check you're not pregnant"
Then she glances as my age on the screen,
"Oh no chance of that at your age"
I was about 48.

I had the opposite to you I signed a disclaimer to say I had declined pregnancy test , I was off my face on pain relief an due to stress of accident wasn’t fit to make such a decision, so maybe some one was looking out for your best interests. It wasn’t until I got home I realised what had occurred. Felt hugely uncomfortable about it.

Ive been sterilised but they still did a pregnancy test on me
Utter waste of money time and resources but they seem to do it as a matter of course

[quote WeAreTheHeroes]@SolasAnla - are you being sarcastic? Let's face it, before the OP had posted she'd had a hysterectomy, how do you know whether she is actually sexually active?[/quote]
@WeAreTheHeroes

The doctor's have a test which is more accurate than asking someone to disclose details of their sex life to a stranger.

Blood tests are routine in a hospital. If the OP was in for unknown pain then a blood draw as a diagnostic tool would be a normal test. Adding in a pregnancy test on the blood panels would not be a problem.
The idea that a doctor would leave a patient for 5 hours on a drip, solely to be able to pee on a stick when a blood test will do the same or better is possible but not probable.

I'm
Gessing NHS testing policy is the debate point

@Decorbreadthegingerate

It’s a tough one. I had a dental x ray and removal of amalgam filling (both contraindicated in pregnancy) because I ticked the box saying I was not/could not be pregnant. Because, despite TTC, my period had just started on the usual date.

My ‘period’ stopped a couple of days later and I found out I was indeed pregnant . Luckily, child is fine several years later

So I get that even the surest of the sure can be wrong. That said, and after all that waffle, I do think your word should have been good enough, even if you were made to sign something

But this was your own poor judgment about whether you could or couldnt be pregnant.

I would like to live in a world where woman would know enough to make an accurate statement about the possibility of them being pregnant.

I was 7 months pregnant, wheeled over from the maternity unit and a man came out and asked me to sign a form confirming I wasn't pregnant before my xray 🤣 I was very clearly pregnant 🙈

If you told the doctor you couldn’t be pregnant due to abstinence and then added you had a hysterectomy this would have raised red flags regarding your ability ( if you were very poorly on admission) to give a clear medical history.
Patients lie and omit important details, sometimes in a misguided attempt to speed up treatment. This is perfectly normal if you are in pain. This behaviour is seen across the board and is currently the biggest cause of ambulance delays. People know what to say to get an ambulance sent to them. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean they get to the front of the queue when reaching A&E hence the massive waiting times and queues of ambulances outside A&E depts.
Jumping in at the deep end with on the spot diagnosis is massively discouraged in medicine nowadays due to the litigious nature of the general public.
Ectopic pregnancy is probably the most common cause of acute abdominal pain in women of childbearing age and the easiest to check on admission. A quick test on admission reduces the delay of diagnosis. Ruptured ectopic is life threatening. Also an X-ray is not the next diagnostic test, it would be ultrasound. By reusing the test you delayed your diagnosis.
It has less to do with policy and more to do with correct diagnostic cascade.
Diagnosis is an elimination process, doctors aim to exclude each potential cause leading to accurate diagnosis and treatment. By failing to diagnose an ectopic they may have put you at a much higher risk.
I recently had a patient who failed to disclose they were taking Warfarin. As a result they ended up in hospital for 24hours. They admitted they had withheld the info because they knew it would have delayed treatment. They were asked directly if they took Warfarin and said no. They now understand the importance of full disclosure.
Having treated the general public for 35+ years they never cease to amaze me. And from experience those who lie the most are the ones who are most likely to complain and sue you. Hence the need to have a blanket policy on regularly updated medical histories.

I suspect the actual reason was that they didn't have availability for the X-ray, and were claiming potential pregnancy as the reason (if you're that ill, the small risks of a single X-ray pale in significance) rather than admit this.

I went to my local hospital with abdo pain so bad I was vomiting and feeling too faint to stand. I WAS pregnant. Earlier that day I'd been to the hospital doing my mat care with slight abdo pains and confirmed it wasn't pregnancy-related. My local hospital took a lot of time complaining at me for going there rather than the other one (which by that point I would have needed an ambulance to get to); and running tests which were already detailed in my orange book (looked at once during my whole stay).

Eventually they said they'd do an ultrasound; but as it was now late on Friday night I might get it on Saturday morning. They didn't do US on a Saturday afternoon/evening or at all on a Sunday, even for emergencies. This was a major London hospital, featured on documentaries.

So I bed-blocked for a couple of days until I got the US late on Monday afternoon. Nothing found--but as they did it externally, there's the obvious factor that my baby was in the way!

(I've since realised it was very likely my symptoms were due to the blood supply being cut off to the ovary on that side. As it's not fatal, it's presumably not considered a medical emergency.)

It's because women who know everything and declare they are not pregnant or want a midwife led birth or whatever suddenly become clueless when something goes wrong and they want to sue the NHS.
I know because my dm went through a horrible time in just this sort of scenario when a very forceful woman got the birth she insisted on against medical advice and the baby was born with a disability.

[quote EthelsAuntie]@SolasAnla no, I told the doctor. I didn't tell a public forum on the internet. [/quote]
Yet you write a whole background so that the public forum can judge the doctors decision's, but choose to leave out the actual medically relevant bit.

Utter waste of money time and resources but they seem to do it as a matter of course

In fairness if you just produce even a dribble of urine they can test it in seconds and the test costs pennies. Enough tests come back positive that it is not a waste of resources.