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Swedish man, 65, told by doctor: 'you're pregnant'

Published: 29 Jun 12 13:40 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/41734/20120629/

A 65-year-old man from northern Sweden was shocked recently when doctors explained that the results from a urine test revealed he was pregnant.

"I’ve got a pretty big belly but this was clearly a misdiagnosis,” Gösta Eloffson told The Local.

Eloffson, who hails from Ragunda in northern Sweden, said he was at first confused on Thursday when his doctor told him the reason why he would have to give another urine sample.

“The doctor joked I was pregnant, and then told me I’d have to do another test!" he said with a laugh.

Despite the results of the test, Eloffson was pretty certain he wasn't pregnant.

“The first test had apparently come into contact with some contaminated bacteria, the same exact bacteria as a pregnant woman would have," he explained.

“We all had a good laugh about it for a while, but I went in and gave another test, and everything’s fine now, I’m not pregnant.”

Elofsson later decided to post the story of his "pregnancy" on Facebook, asking if “the holy spirit had gone gaga and made a man pregnant this time”.

The post was subsequently noticed by national media, making headlines across Sweden.

In the meantime, Elofsson is happy to announce that while he won’t be giving birth to any children himself – he is expecting two kids soon:

“I’m going to be a grandfather in August and a great-grandfather in October,” he said, adding that while 65 may sound young for a great-grandfather “anything is possible when you’re effective with your time.”

Oliver Gee
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14:58 June 29, 2012 by bcterry
Congratulations.
15:23 June 29, 2012 by VoodooDingy
Will it be a boy or a girl?
15:31 June 29, 2012 by Evrin
well I think I had heared about it last year...r you out of news :?
16:33 June 29, 2012 by kirub
And then the morning sickness. Not funny.
17:36 June 29, 2012 by philster61
have a cigar
20:45 June 29, 2012 by Radhus
I wonder what would happen if this was a female. Would they still do another test?

A medical sample being contaminated with bacteria is the sort of thing you would expect to happen in a third world country. Just another example of how woeful the Swedish healthcare system is.
20:49 June 29, 2012 by tadchem
This just indicates that there are *serious* issues with 'chain of custody' for medical samples, AND that there are *serious* issues with a lack of common sense among physicians.

Either that or this man has forfeited too much power to his wife.
12:14 June 30, 2012 by Fred Johnsson
Do you know who the father is?
18:51 June 30, 2012 by andy_so
Congrats, sounds like a hepatocellular carcinoma! (if its alpha fetoprotein...)
02:22 July 3, 2012 by lizardking
they told the same thing to my girlfriend and it really freaked us cause we weren't planing to have a kid! can u imagine what we went through??

and FYI a crap like that wont even happen in what u call a 3rd world country, Sweden is srsly f**ed up!
15:30 July 5, 2012 by Danish Voice
This "mistake" was so obvious, but think if it had been a condition that can hit both genders?

At least this laboratory has to check it's rutines much better.
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