This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Steve Oljeski, MD Doctor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2000) Once while an intern working in the ED, a middle class, pleasant looking blond haired women in her early 30s came in complaining of severe back pain after lifting her suitcase in her hotel room. Being from out of town, we had no medical records for her. Last patient of the night, so let’s get this done. I performed all the appropriate tests and thought she probably had a herniated disc. My attending agreed. We discharged her with scripts for muscle relaxants and 25 narcotic tablets. Time to go! As I was leaving for the night a few minutes later I saw her and her husband walking, quite normally, out to the car laughing and joking about how “this always works.” Well played, madame! Source
