Questions about a false positive

[pixiedust23]

Being the worried well that I am, my mind thought of these questions, and I thought I'd see what you guys had to say about them.

a) I know false positives are not common, but then how do they occur? Why do we have false positives?

b) Also, why would a doctor tell you you had a positive if it has not been confirmed? Wouldn't the lab go through the entire procedure of confirming the result with a Western Blot and give you a final result?

c) Assuming that your result had to be confirmed with a Western Blot, how long would it take for them to do that? I guess I'm looking for an average.

Thanks for anyone that responds! The questions may seem stupid and make no sense, but obviously I'm no expert,just wanted to know.

[Teak]

No doctor should give you a positive result without it being confirmed.

[pixiedust23]

Hmm, yeah, I thought so too. Thought I'd ask regardless.

What is the deal with false positives then?