If the test results are negative, can you be sure that the person you tested did not abuse drugs? No. No drug test of this type is 100% accurate. There are several factors that can make the test results negative even though the person is abusing drugs. First, you may have tested for the wrong drugs. Or, you may not have tested the urine when it contained drugs. It takes time for drugs to appear in the urine after a person takes them, and they do not stay in the urine indefinitely; you may have collected the urine too late or too soon. It is also possible that the chemicals in the test went bad because they were stored incorrectly or they passed their expiration date.
If you get a negative test result, but still suspect that someone is abusing drugs, you can test again at a later time. Talk to your doctor if you need more help deciding what steps to take next.
I have received TWO EMAILS TODAY regarding pts being “fired” for failing a pee in the cup drug test. Typically, the stories that I have heard, there is a denial of a repeat test, even though it is reported that these tests can have up to a 40% false positive/negative.
We know that most chronic pain clinics have a waiting lists of pts wanting to be seen… Are these pts that are being “fired” are those that have run up a unpaid bill and reached a cut off point… Has their insurance become slow to pay and/or reduced their allowables for the services provided and/or paying less frequently for particular procedures.
Has the prescriber accepted too many pts into the practice that can safely handled and a negative/positive urine test is used to thin the heard of pts that they have little possibility of collecting monies due, have insurance issues of timely payments, reduced allowables or other issues that the prescriber and/or staff no longer wish to deal with… and use the “failed urine test” as the methodology to fire pts.
Most likely, the pt never see the actual test container and the results not does the practice make a digital of the results as proof.. all there is .. is the staff’s reading of the results that are recorded into the pt’s records.
What is a patient to do ? Normally the pt is given the “bad news” several days after the test was taken and likely all proof of the test results have been discarded or destroyed. Going to a independent lab to get retested, the prescriber could claim that the pt started taking their medication again just to pass the test.
Of course, having a independent test would allow the pt to send a letter to the prescriber asking that a letter from the pt and the second test be included in their medical records. Pt should also request a copy of all their medical records from their former physician.
Of course, the pt could fight the prescriber for being lied to and falsely fired.. but.. do you want a prescriber treating you.. who lied to you about urine test ?
Filed under: General Problems
who do you go to when your wrongly accussed steve? noone cares.
Aren’t there more accurate tests like the use of hair that can detect Drugs/Medication usage and dosage along with establishing some sort of a time line of use? I know that it’s not CSI but tons of employers are using hair to test for drugs and it just makes sense that hair grows a little each day so determining frequency and time should be possible.
With me, I would rather give hair then pee in a cup. Hell I’d rather give blood then pee in a cup, always had a phobia about UA’s. Besides most men can’t hit a toilet bowl let alone a jar 2 and a half inches in diameter.
https://edsinfo.wordpress.com/2015/09/06/physician-perspective-on-urine-drug-testing/#comment-4400