one time i got a sore throat and fevor, the fevor wouldnt break for 7 days. the entire time i could feel the spot where my sickness was coming from. i looked in a mirror and there were puss modules - classic strep throat. I go to the doctor, she does the strep test and it comes back negative, she refuses to prescribe me antibiotics and told me to just go home and rest.

luckily, i had a penicillin script that I didnt finish, and after the first pill the sore throat (and the fever) broke within hours.

later when talking to my brother (who is a doctor), he told me the problem, one that he had also. When he gave the step test, it came back negative even when he knew it was positive. an older attending told him that you have to really get it in there, rub it around for a long time in order for it to work, where most just do a quick swipe.

another such example was someone came to the ER with chest pain. they didnt detect anything in the blood test so they were going to send him home. my brother refused and ordered more tests. turns out he was in the middle of having a heart attack when they were going to send him home, because ... the test.

the moral to the story is, many doctors blindly rely on tests and whats in the book, and disregard contradicting evidence.