I write charts every day and that context is way more common that "doesn't have.." We use deny to describe pertinent negatives and complains to describe pertinent positives.

So a person walks into the ER trouble breathing and chest pain, you might write, "patient complains of epigastric pain, palpation in negative for rebound. Patient also complains of pain during inspiration. Patient denies any injury or illness prior to onset."

It just means that the patient said they weren't sick or got hurt before the pain, it's a pertinent negative. I don't know your doctor of course but this is the standard. It's been like this for a long time and people often confuse the context the way you are.

read this:

https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/the-patient-denies.373980/