Going to different hospitals?

If someone never goes to the same doctor or the same hospital does that mean that they are faking their injuries? I know someone who is constantly going to the hospital but she’s always going to different hospitals and doctors. In the 5 years I’ve known her she’s never posted about going to the same hospital. It’s always a different one. She also posts when she’s checking into the hospital. I’m guessing she’s just doing this for attention. I mean if she was legit sick wouldn’t she go to the same one?

Why do people feel the need to do this? For attention or what?

This could be a sign of attention seeking and drug seeking behaviour. But there could be other reasons like having had one bad experience after another. Whether these negative experiences are ligitimate or arise out of unrealistic expectations, such would be the reason to seek out an alternative. A factor in making a conclusion would also be considering how long these hospitalisations tend to be. If they are generally quite short I would lean towards your assumption this is attention seeking.

no it does not, here in america we have a law that says all americans must have health insurance. this means that those that do not want to pay out of their own pockets for health care must see what ever doctors and go to what ever hospitals that happen to be covered by their insurance at the time that they need it.

insurance companies change who is on their listing of treatment providers and hospitals frequently.

that means those not paying out of their pocket and having insurance pay may have to see many different doctors and use many different hospitals.

my insurance plans cover 4 different local hospital / emergency care facilities at any given time but they changes periodically I may have to use the general hospital this time and another hospital another time and a completely different hospital / emergency care another time...

not to mention doctors do go on vacations, quit their jobs, retire and so forth which may mean using different doctors. hospitals also have their limits on how many patients they can treat at any given time and whether they have treatment providers available qualified in what ever the problem is.

there have been many times where something may be wrong and me or someone in my family needs to be seen by a doctor but our own doctors havent the available time, or is on vacation or the hospital has referred us to another place...

my point its no reflection on whether a person is faking it or what have you. its just how the american health system now works.

With electronic health records and prescription drug monitoring, very little of what we do health-wise is private anymore. Changing doctors and hospitals can begin to look like doctor "shopping," regardless of one's motivations or insurance restrictions. When I changed pharmacies last year, the pharmacist was able to access a huge database of my earlier prescriptions and the names of doctors who prescribed them, which was kind of alarming. So much for privacy.

It's true that all Americans are supposed to have insurance, but the first thing my rural county did when the ACA came into being was establish a clinic for the un/under-insured. All the local doctors rotate through the clinic and provide the exact same services there that they do at their own profitable practices, and at no charge. The local hospital supports this clinic by doing labs for free.

I don’t think it’s fair to accuse someone of attention seeking. Not saying it’s impossible but you really have no way of knowing so it’s best to give her the benefit of the doubt in this situation. If she isn’t legit sick she’ll eventually either grow tired of it or tell on herself.

I always go to the same hospital for inpatient treatment (if they have a bed) but I have flip flopped between outpatient therapists because it’s hard to find one I feel comfortable telling my life to.

She did have diagnosed factious disorder when she was a teenager. I just can’t tell now when she’s an adult if she’s still struggling with it or is legit getting sick. I’m not being unfair when she has fooled many people before.

Being a friend (I don't know how close), perhaps it might be best to be supportive and ask what you might do for her.

I would question the validity of such a diagnosis in a teenager (don’t all teens seek attention) but I disgress. If you choose not to believe her , fair enough. Limit your contact and don’t react when she posts about going to the hospital.
But other than that there’s nothing you can do about it.

I just know she pretended to have asthma and would have these asthma attacks when she didn’t really have it. Also she would pretend to have seizures when it was obvious she wasn’t having one. That kind of seems intense for normal teenage attention seeking behavior.

Psychogenic seizures could feel quite real. Why do you care if she is faking it or not? Do yuh know her irl or just online? What does it matter if she is seeking attention or us actually sick?

I feel I need to say something here...I kept my post off of whether or not someone is faking it and on the generic question asked .... if going to different doctors or hospitals points to someone faking. I also did not post my beliefs on whether this friend is faking it or not.....

heres why.....

when I read posts questioning friends of family members in maybe they are faking... I wonder how this person being discussed would feel if they, with out telling their friends and family come here and read, then see that they and their problems are being discussed on psych central... I think about the times that I read here before registering, how would I have liked to see my therapist or my friend that was here before me, discussing my life and my problems and that they feel I was faking it....

i wonder if maybe this is why psych central may have a rule that says members cant diagnose someone as faking it,

I mean how would I feel to go on the internet some where and discover my friend or my best friend is saying Im faking my problems when they have not gone to my doctors with me, they were not there to see every single one of my symptoms and what my doctors diagnose me with...

I dont know every single thing my friends do and what websites they visit I dont feel it right for me to be saying on the internet anywhere that i feel a friend may or may not be faking it.

bottom line only they and their doctors and hospitals knows whether they are faking it.

I also know that in the past 8 or so years that I have been on psych central members friends (including my own here) have come on psych central and read the boards and that has caused many to feel they had to delete their accounts because their friends and family found their posts here.

my point just a tip and something to think about when I consider whether to post online anywhere whether I feel someone is faking it or not, I wouldnt want them to do it to me , so I dont do it to them.

as for my post, I stand by it, whether anyone goes to one or more treatment facilities or one or more doctors, its just the world we live in now thanks to so many having health insurance now. my whole family has gone to many many doctors, treatment facilities and so on, just because we were sent there through insurances and treatment providers.