When you go to the doctor in Indiana, you expect he or she will take every opportunity to discover what is wrong. You trust in the doctor and other medical professionals when they make you go through testing. You trust the tests are accurate and will provide you with answers. However, you may be misplacing your trust. Medical tests are not always that accurate.
According to VeryWell Health, medical tests often produce false positives and negatives. Your doctor should order multiple tests to confirm any results. One test is not enough to get a conclusive diagnosis. In fact, your doctor should not rely completely on testing. He or she should also examine you, dig into your symptoms and take all the information together with the test results to make a proper diagnosis.
Tests may include blood, urine and imaging. Every test has a set rate of reliability. Your doctor should explain this to you. He or she should explain what to expect from the results and why you are getting the test. When you have a test, the doctor gets a report that also explains the accuracy, so you can always ask after you get the results.
Inaccurate results are most often due to human error. Someone writes something wrong on paperwork, does not handle your sample correctly or does not follow test instructions. These things can produce a bad result. In addition, you may do something to alter results, such as not following pre-test instructions. Finally, the equipment may not work properly and produce incorrect results.
This information is for education. It is not legal advice.