Final answer:
A patient on diuretic therapy for fluid retention is likely to have a lower urine specific gravity, reflecting the drug's effect of increasing urine output and decreasing solute concentration. The expected value in such a condition would be around 1.010.
Step-by-step explanation:
The expected urine specific gravity for a patient being treated with diuretics for retained fluid would be b. 1.010.
Diuretics are prescribed to increase the excretion of water and salts in the urine, which helps reduce fluid retention in the body. Since diuretics increase urine output, the specific gravity of urine, which measures the concentration of solutes, would typically decrease. Urine specific gravity normally ranges from 1.005 to 1.030.
Treatment with diuretics would thus lower the specific gravity closer to that of pure water, indicating less solute concentration. An ideal reading in such a scenario would be 1.010, which signifies a lower than normal concentration of solutes, consistent with the effects of diuretics. It's important to remember that the standard reference for urine specific gravity is 1.015 at 15°C, and adjustments are made for temperature changes.