Hospital? Nah! Laboratory

The place where I work is a tertiary level hospital, receiving referrals from all over the country. However there are a few who believe its primary job is not to care for those in need, but to cater to the needs of those who want free laboratory facilities. I had a patient today who was brought by one of the hospital employees. He introduced her and went away. When I called her in to see her, she said her problem was repeated pregnancy wastage. I checked her history and then asked her to go into the examination room. Then she said she was in the difficult time of the month from today. I asked her to come next week, when the time would not be difficult. Then she smiled a little and said she had actually been referred to our hospital to have some tests done. I saw her referral note. It was written by a consultant in private practice. He had sent her to get some tests which I knew were quite expensive in private laboratories. Some of them were relevant, others were not. Some were done in our hospital, others were not. I asked her if she had come to us for management of her problem, or just wanted to get the tests done and then go back to her referring doctor. She said she wanted to go back. I told her I would not advice those tests which were irrelevant as per our protocols. That she found acceptable. She said she would come back next week. I am wondering how justified are we in getting those tests done for her, since she is treating our hospital as a free laboratory. I also wonder if I can refuse to do those tests, because she could have very well lied to me and got those tests done as if she planned to get treated at our hospital, but not do so once she had all the reports. When the senior staff nurse in the clinic heard of this, she said a number of patients wanted this done. Just last week she had caught one running away with an ultrasonography form, obviously to get the ultrasonography done and go away with the report. There had been others who had asked her to go with them to the labs to expedite matters too, mentioning names of the private practicing referring doctors, as if the names commanded prompt service. I wonder whether the patients have faith in our laboratories, but not our clinicians or they just want the comfort of treatment in a private set up and save money on investigations when they can do so.