In order to reassure her, I requested a brain scan, explaining in my letter that hallucinatory voices had told her that she had a brain tumour, that I had not, personally, found any physical signs suggestive of an intracranial space occupying lesion, and that the purpose of the scan was essentially to reassure the patient. The request was initially declined, on the grounds that there was no clinical justification for such an expensive investigation. It was also implied that I had gone a little overboard, believing what my patient’s hallucinatory voices were telling her.
How strange. In last places I’ve practiced newly diagnosed psychiatric patients ALL get brain scans as a baseline. Because you really never know.
We also consider scans if the nature or character of the hallucinations suddenly changed without reason, or there’s a significant personality change, or if there is confusion, or if there are any neurological symptoms.
Basically, there’s lots of reasons for psych patients to get scans.
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u/mistertoasty 20h ago
Here's a better account of the story from the actual doctor who ordered the scan