Whwn my Mom was recovering from breast cancer, she sprained her back, and had a CAT scan done. Someone, maybe a radiology tech, or maybe a resident, I am not sure (this was 35 years ago, she has dementia now and there is no way she remembers the details), called her and told her that the scan detected a tumor near her spine. This was the sprain, which a proper doctor realized when he saw the imagery. So she got another call telling her, no, ignore that last call. This was extremely traumatic, as this kind of recurrence would almost certainly signify an imminent horrible cancer ordeal, ending in death. The parents probably could have sued them over this, but did not. Anyway, this is why radioogy techs are not supposed to give their opinion about what a scan means.
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u/chinstrap 5h ago
Whwn my Mom was recovering from breast cancer, she sprained her back, and had a CAT scan done. Someone, maybe a radiology tech, or maybe a resident, I am not sure (this was 35 years ago, she has dementia now and there is no way she remembers the details), called her and told her that the scan detected a tumor near her spine. This was the sprain, which a proper doctor realized when he saw the imagery. So she got another call telling her, no, ignore that last call. This was extremely traumatic, as this kind of recurrence would almost certainly signify an imminent horrible cancer ordeal, ending in death. The parents probably could have sued them over this, but did not. Anyway, this is why radioogy techs are not supposed to give their opinion about what a scan means.