Internal Medicine: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Factitious Hemoptysis after Right Lower Lobectomy

Joseph P Smith, Karina A Serban and Gabriel T Bosslet

Hemoptysis is usually a sign of a serious condition (e.g. infectious, malignant, or systemic disorder) and requires an array of semi-invasive and/or invasive procedures to make a diagnosis. However, sometimes a less serious condition ? factitious disorder ? should be considered in the differential diagnosis because of the potentially dangerous consequences of repeated workups. Our case presents a 30-year-old African American female who presented with a complaint of fifteen hours of acute hemoptysis. We present the path to our discovery of the patient?s history of Munchausen?s syndrome and this episode of factitious hemoptysis such that our physician colleagues may keep differential diagnosis lists wide and protect patients with factitious disorder and Munchausen?s syndrome from unnecessary risk inherent to the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures they undergo.