[cperciva]

As a patient, I've been guilty of doing this deliberately. At ER triage, my priority is "get into a bed". Once I've been admitted, my priority is "get well". (And once I'm feeling better, my priority is "get out of here"...)

As a type 1 diabetic, if I have high blood glucose and nausea, I'm going to say the letters "DKA" to the triage nurse. I'll never bring it up again -- because the first blood chemistry test answers that question one way or the other.