Pseudocyesis

You may recall back in January when I wrote about the patient who came in claiming she was pregnant and in labor with triplets, but ended up not being pregnant at all (see the post here). Apparently there is a name for this condition, pseudocyesis. Well, the other day at work we had another similar situation. This one, however, wasn't quite so dramatic. The lady was escorted up from the lobby by the information desk attendant. She did not appear in any acute distress, but said that she was 6 months pregnant and had been feeling some contractions. Just looking at her you could tell something was off, but then we do get some patients that are actually crazy AND pregnant. The secretary went to get her signed in and came back with a funny look on her face. "She says her name is Diana Ross and that her doctor is Al Pacino." One of the nurses went in to see the patient and of course was unsuccessful in getting any fetal heart tones. Turns out the patient had recently been discharged from St. Elizabeth's, was taking Risperidone, and had made visits to several other area hospitals regarding her "pregnancy." What became of her I'm not exactly sure. We don't have a involuntary admission psych unit in our hospital, so we recommended that she go down to the ER to be evaluated by psychiatry. She refused and we had no reason to keep her, so she was sent on her way. Another one slips through the cracks.