Is it common practice for a hospital to give a urinalysis before an xray to check for pregnancy?

Question

The reason I ask is my wife is at the ER with lower back problems. I've had a vasectomy and I can't understand why they would still need to wait on a pregnancy test if we can't have children. Is this just a way to run up the bill orshould there be a suspicion of her cheating on me?

Answer 1

Relax, it's neither. I know a woman whose husband had a vasectomy (after 6 kids) and she still became pregnant. He was furious. Found out through DNA baby was his! Not cheating. She got her tubes tied at the birth of the baby and boom! Pregnant again (yup hers, too LOL). It's important to protect any woman of child bearing age from x-rays to a fetus. Trust your wife. Trust your doctor. Hope your wife it doing well.

Answer 2

It is always common practice before an X-ray to do a pregnancy test, just because you had a vasectomy may not mean she couldn't be pregnant by someone else and then the hospital can get sued big time for damage to the child. The pregnancy test is only about $12-15 dollars. We are not running up the bill we are protecting the patient as well as the docs with huge malpractice insurance!

Answer 3

A urinalysis and a urine pregnancy test are two different tests.

Depending on your wife's symptoms, it might be reasonable to do a urinalysis to look for a urinary tract infection, which can cause back pain.

Most hospitals and EDs will routinely check the pregnancy status of any woman of child bearing age before obtaining any X-ray studies, because a significant number of women who come to the ED with belly or back pain, who swear that there is no way they could be pregnant, are in fact 3-4 weeks or more pregnant. Depending on the gestational age of the baby, X-rays can cause more or less severe health problems.

Finally, if your wife has had back pain for less than month, and there are no "red flags" such as recent trauma, fevers, inability to find a relatively comfortable position, loss of bowel or bladder control, she doesn't need any X-rays, MRIs or CT scans.

I hope she feels better soon.

Answer 4

I appreciate the answers, even yours demon doll. There are other reasons involved for me being suspicious of her cheating, otherwise i wouldn't have posted the question. I'm a guy and don't have to worry about being pregnant, so I'm not accustomed to blood tests before an x-ray. Our marital issues run deeper than her lowerback. There is a mistrust due to earlier actions by her in our relationship and that's why I'd ask such a question. Either way it's a shame that someone who is in her condition and knows she's not pregnant has to wait because the system is more concerned with covering their collective butts than treating a patient. I love my wife, but I am a guy and we do ask stupid questions.

Answer 5

i'm a dentist and that i do a brilliant number of understanding tooth. there is an criminal accountability on the area of a dentist to pre-operatively examine the tooth he's approximately to extract - this contains yet isn't constrained to radiographic assessment(x-rays). the purpose of the assessment is to verify whether extraction is achievable and to forewarn the affected person of problems that could upward push up as a results of the extraction. Having mentioned all that, i don't think of your issues are a results of unfavorable pre-operative assessment.Sounds to me you had a submit-operative an infection, the reason for that's now impossible to envision.there is not any confident reason - must be unfavorable oral hygiene,unfavorable technique,immunosuppression,and so on,and so on,and so on. i'm not taking aspects ,i don't even artwork interior the united kingdom anymore, whether it variety of feels to me that until your dentist broke slightly bit root and left it in with out your know-how then you incredibly've a reasonably unfavorable case for repayment. i might prefer to reassure you that your subject in beginning(trismus) is person-friendly after the variety of undesirable an infection and that it will advance each and daily whether it ought to take a pair of months to come again to prevalent - do not subject. Physiotherapy or maybe warm-packs will help the healing technique.

Answer 6

It is very important that a urinalysis be tested for possible pregnancy before an x-ray is performed. It is standard procedure for hospital regulations and also for the patient's safety. Before you jump to any conclusions, just wait for the results.

Answer 7

Doctors don't believe people sometimes. I was on a medication that would cause birth defects and had to take a blood test every few months to make sure I wan't pregnant, even though I was very young and a virgin at the time and didn't even have a boyfriend.

Answer 8

A pregnancy test is standard procedure. I think you should be more concerned with your wife's health right now than the prospect of her cheating on you. If i was your wife and I found out what you are thinking, I'd be p!ssed and send you packing!

Answer 9

Its just for precautionary reasons and legal reasons. If there is a possibility that she could be pregnant, the gamma rays from the radiograph will cause harm to the fetus.

Answer 10

I think they are covering thier butts. Unless you have other things that make you suspicous, don't worry about her cheating.