RAT 5,
A good posting indeed.
However, at the end of the day we are responsible for preventing an accident.
If calling in sick is the method, then so be it.
If at some point in the future the company want to talk to me about the sickies, well so what! They haven't got the capacity to think and make a case, as one's allowed sick periods of up to 7 days without a doc's cert.
As it happens I have done it a few times, but all within reason, there's no "pattern" to be seen!
I call it Accident Prevention, by Self Regulation.