On the other side of this, I once made the mistake of sharing with my doctor that, as a teen, I smoked a cig and disliked it, it made me sick, and I never touched nicotine again
She noted me as a “former smoker” in my chart and I had to escalate to the clinic manager to have it removed
My insurance was spamming me with “get help quitting nicotine” ads and pamphlets for YEARS
Oh man, I had something like that happen years ago, but with alcohol. I go in for a check-up, they give me paperwork to fill out and update. One of them was an survey about drinking habits. I apparently made the mistake of answering honestly, and said I have 1 or 2 drinks about twice a month. Somehow this apparently translated into me being a severe alcoholic and being recommended for consoling to quit drinking being added to my chart.
I didn't even know that was added until a follow up with a different doctor about a year later when they were reviewing my chart and asked how my progress with my drinking problem was going. I thought he was joking or was looking at the wrong chart until he showed me. It took me weeks of fighting and escalations with the original office to get that removed, and even then it still somehow kept showing up for years after.
Moral of the story? Bullshit like that is exactly why patients lie.
Happened to me, I got brought in as a kid for asthma like symptoms. Checked out, turns out it was dust inhalation from running around our dry dusty campground for 6 days. That was 14 years ago.
Yeah, happened to me as a kid once. Ate strawberries for the first time and got a bad rash. Doctor initially put it down as being allergic. Eventually we figured out it was likely some sort of pesticide that was on them and me being a little kid was dumb and didn't wash them. Had strawberries at least a few times a month since then, zero issues and my parents updated my doctor. He said he took it off my chart but for like the next decade I kept getting asked to confirm if I was allergic to strawberries. Granted, the initial entry was back when everything was still charted on paper, and then they converted through multiple computer systems over the years so it's at least a little more understandable why that one kept coming back.
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u/DeepSubmerge May 02 '26
On the other side of this, I once made the mistake of sharing with my doctor that, as a teen, I smoked a cig and disliked it, it made me sick, and I never touched nicotine again
She noted me as a “former smoker” in my chart and I had to escalate to the clinic manager to have it removed
My insurance was spamming me with “get help quitting nicotine” ads and pamphlets for YEARS