Labs that screw up

[iliel]

I just talked to a friend who had a very bad experience with a major lab. He had some blood work done and when it came back it said his testosterone was WAY out of wack. He freaked for the entire weekend, he works in health care and see all kinds of things and he's worrying that it's cancer, etc. Well, he pulls his chart to check the level of the Testosterone and notices on the sex portion of the lab, it said female....now, he does have a name that is more common in females, but this was a big mistake. Turns out is levels where just fine and he wasn't going to have his...um, you know, cut off. I'm just happy he's ok!

While we had a pretty good laugh about it, it really makes you wonder. How many times does this sort of thing happen. This can be devestating for someone. Has anyone had to deal with anything like that???

[manna, BSN, RN]

I try to donate blood on a regular basis, so the last time the "blood bus" came up here to work of course I went and gave some. A month or two later I get this big, fat envelope from United Blood Services.... when I open it up, at the top of the page in BIG, BOLD, BLACK LETTERS are HIV/HEPATITIS C.

Now here I sit, terrified reading those words.... I guess I HAVE engaged in some risky behavior in the past... of course it was just a false positive, but those 15 seconds or so were sheer terror on my part. :)

So this isn't a lab screwup at all, but just a silly something on my part. :)