Ill patient with unknown or hidden pregnancy

Many pregnancies are inadvertently interrupted because diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are potentially teratogenic are unwittingly instituted. To prevent this ever-present possibility, it is essential that the family physician as well as the hospital's admitting physician know for certain whether a patient in her childbearing years is pregnant. The simple direct question "Are you pregnant?" unfortunately does not always elicit a reliable answer. The patient may not know that she is pregnant, a common occurrence in early pregnancy, or for any of a number of reasons she may choose to conceal her pregnancy. A pregnancy test thus becomes an important diagnostic tool in the armamentarium of every conscientious physician. It should be given routinely to all women of childbearing age before instituting extensive diagnostic x-ray studies, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy that may be contraindicated in pregnancy. Because most contraindicated procedures are performed in a hospital, it is suggested that a pregnancy test on urine be made mandatory on a woman's admission to a hospital.