Why doi you think they did not do a CT Scan when the Doctor sent me to the hospital?

Question

Why could this be? A waste of time waiting around.

Do they NOT like to do these in assault cases in case they have to testify?

Or was it because my signs and symptoms were not severe enough? Your guess unless you have insider information.

I said to the Doctor at the hospital that three things:

1) persistant headaches and nausea
2) visible head injury
3) elevated blood pressure 158/101 rise from 120/80

Only all three things count. He dismissed the blood pressure.

Two GP's said this was significant.

Answer 1

There's a difference in philosophy. The GP's are looking at symptoms that could suggest increased intracranial pressure, and they want the CT to tell. The emergency physician, who deals with these things every day, is taking the approach that no matter what shows on the CT, it's not going to change treatment. Even a small bleed, at this point, would be treated with watchful waiting. Factor in the several hundred dollars' cost of the scan, and there's a point in not doing the test. Also, there's a time window. There is a period during which CT isn't very good at picking up what you want to see, and MRI might be a better choice. MRI isn't generally considered an emergency test, and it would have to be scheduled probably through the hospital's outpatient system, or directly through radiology, depending on how that hospital sets up such things.

Answer 2

A test is not ordered unless it will provide information that is useful in the diagnosis or treatment of your condition.

If you were beaten up, there may not have been anything more that a CT scan would have revealed.

Also, your insurance won't pay for anything "not medically necessary", so that CT would have come right out of your pocket (cost of the scan plus the radiologist's reading of the scan = hundreds of $'s)

Answer 3

did your doc order one? you have to have a script for it and if they felt your injuries weren't bad enough to warrant it they won't do it anyway.