MEDICS have been accused of “box-ticking” after a mum aged 56 was ordered to take a pregnancy test at A&E.
Sian Sturgis had dislocated her hip visiting family and was in agony.
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When her op slot came up, she had to prove she was not expecting a baby — despite having been through the menopause.
Sian, whose youngest child is 18, told The Sun: “My husband said I’d have been one of the oldest mothers in the world.”
She said nurses had to use a catheter for the test as she could not move at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, Kent.
Sian, of North London, added: “It was extremely distressing.
“They could have taken a urine sample ages earlier — I had been at the hospital for 24 hours.
“The agony was worse than childbirth and I thought they weren’t going to let me have the procedure.
“I knew it was my only hope and I hadn’t slept or eaten since I got there.”
The NHS says: “You can stop using contraception at the age of 55, as getting pregnant naturally after this is very rare.”
Husband John said pressuring Sian to have the test was a “pointless” waste of time and “achieved nothing but a box tick”.
The local Trust said “to ensure patient safety” it does a pregnancy test on those “aged 12 to 60”.