title: [Paranoid schizophrenic patient with unstable spinal fracture].
abstract: The misdiagnosis of somatic illness in the psychiatric population can have grave consequences. Somatic symptoms are easily overseen or misinterpreted and a careful history and examination is essential when approaching this group of patients. We report a case of a patient with a history of paranoid schizophrenia, who had her somatic symptoms misinterpreted as being of psychiatric origin. This misinterpretation gave rise to an admission to a psychiatric ward of a patient who actually presented with an unstable spinal fracture.
authors.affiliation: Operations- og Anæstesiologisk Afdeling Y, Glostrup Hospital, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark. ufl@ydemann.dk
authors.forename: Mogens
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ydemann
mesh_terms: D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis; D016103:Spinal Fractures / Q000175:diagnosis*