A friend of mine is facing kidney failure and it seems to be caused by the doctors

celticwarrior8

Hi, I am looking for some advice on behalf of a friend of mine. He was googling treatments and became afraid of what he was reading and asked me to look into it, I am starting to agree with him.
He's in his late 50's and has a history of lung issues and uses portable oxygen. Apart from that always seemed fine to me. Stopped smoking over 10 years ago.
He went to hospital with a bad chest infection at the start of December but wasn't improving. It got really worse and now is facing kidney failure (seemed to come from nowhere) he was told that the treatment for his lungs is causing issues with the kidneys.
Yesterday he was told he is being sent for an x-ray but they cant give the "drink" they gave before christmas as it is too hard on the kidneys. Thats when the alarm bells rang. 3 days before the kidney issues he was due for a camera, he drank 3 litres of liquid. In the end that was cancelled and he was told he could die as the creatinin in his blood went up to 780.
He is stable now but very far from being out of the woods.
Then we found this information, I'll paste here, please read it and tell me what you think. Was this negligence? I think it was but I am reluctant to confirm it with him as he is still being treated and I dont want the doctors to turn nasty on him.

Oral Sodium Phosphate Safety Alerts

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who use bowel cleansing products should be aware of a recent warning issued by the FDA for a type of sudden loss of kidney function or acute kidney injury and blood mineral disturbances. Phosphate crystal deposition in the kidneys causes the loss of kidney function, which can lead to kidney failure. The medical term for this condition is acute phosphate nephropathy.
The warning relates to use of bowel cleansing agents used as laxatives or in preparation for colonoscopy called sodium phosphate (OSP) products. OSPs are available both with and without a prescription and are taken by mouth.
Oral sodium phosphates clear the bowel by making bowel movements frequent, loose and runny. These agents work by causing fluid loss so patients are recommended to drink large quantities of clear liquids as part of the bowel preparation.
Symptoms of acute phosphate nephropathy are:

• Lethargy
• Drowsiness
• Decreased urine and
• Swelling of ankles, feet and legs.

Early on, people may not have any symptoms at all. Anyone at high risk for this condition should have their kidney function monitored by their doctor.
Visicol® and OsmoPrep® are available by prescription only. Other similar OSP products are non-prescription, and can be used as a laxative at low doses.
Children under 18 years should not use these products alone or in combination with other laxatives containing sodium phosphate. Others groups who are at risk for acute phosphate nephropathy are:

• People over 55
• CKD patients
• People who are dehydrated
• People who have bowel obstruction, delayed bowel emptying, active colitis
• People taking medications such as diuretics, angiotensin converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers [ARBs], and inflammation and pain relief medications such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs]).

The FDA requested the manufacturer of Visicol® and OsmoPrep®, Salix Pharmaceuticals, to:

• Add a black boxed warning to the pharmacy package insert for these products
• Develop and distribute of a medication guide for patients that is easier for most patients to understand than package inserts.
• Arrange a post marketing trial to assess the risks to patients taking OSP products.

Non-prescription OSP products have a long history of safety when used as laxatives and will still be available over the counter. However because of the recent warning by the FDA, those OSP products should only be used as laxatives and not for bowel cleansing. The FDA suggests consumers should get a prescription from a health care professional when thinking about having a bowel cleansing.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) strongly recommends that clinicians screen men and women 50 years of age or older for colorectal cancer with one of several tests including colonoscopy. If your doctor recommends colonoscopy, concerns about bowel cleansing should not prevent you from undergoing colon cancer screening. Colon cancer is treatable when the disease is caught early and the best treatment is to identify and remove precancerous polyps before they progress to cancer.
A high quality and safe colon cleansing preparation is important for colon cancer screening with colonoscopy. There are other FDA approved alternatives to OSP for bowel preparation prior to colonoscopy that may be safer for some patients, but may not always clean the bowel adequately. Patients should discuss the risks of the preparation and procedure as well as the benefits of the screening to determine the best bowel cleaning agent for their age, and risk conditions noted above.
More than 26 million American adults and thousands of American children have CKD. Most do not know they have this condition.

Ayuntamiento

You should probably focus on supporting your friend and not trying to make money out of his misfortune with a spurious negligence claim.

He sounds like he has lots of complex medical issues going on and as such it's a very delicate balancing act trying to treat one issue without causing another.

celticwarrior8

Ok firstly, no need for cynicism. It is my friend, an long time friend - not me, not my dad, not my son .... a long time friend who could be gone at any minute.
I dont know where the money came out of it, I mean ... I wouldnt make money if the family sued, but that is not the point of the question. If it is shown that the wrong steps were taken maybe the medical staff will pull out all the stops to help recovery?
I did not post the question for any reason other than advice from regular people on what to do.

Del2005

celticwarrior8 wrote: »

it is shown that the wrong steps were taken maybe the medical staff will pull out all the stops to help recovery?.

Do you think that if medical staff don't make a mistake with treatment they don't pull out all the stops with recovery?

celticwarrior8

Del2005 wrote: »

Do you think that if medical staff don't make a mistake with treatment they don't pull out all the stops with recovery?

...and we think that is happening. He's on a medical card yet was put into a private room. The consultants have all been great, very udnerstanding, very helpful. But .... was it their fault?
Speaking to other people obviously they are saying there are many many variables that even I would not be aware of, I totally get that. I am just looking for a chat about it with the wider public on boards.ie

Del2005

celticwarrior8 wrote: »

...and we think that is happening. He's on a medical card yet was put into a private room. The consultants have all been great, very udnerstanding, very helpful. But .... was it their fault?
Speaking to other people obviously they are saying there are many many variables that even I would not be aware of, I totally get that. I am just looking for a chat about it with the wider public on boards.ie

I think with the way our hospitals are you get put into whatever bed is available. Having insurance guarantees that you're company pays thousands for the stay, it doesn't guarantee that you get a private room

joefromireland

This is not a surprise to me as Medical Mistakes are the 3rd Leading Cause of Death in the US, do you think the data is any different for Ireland.


Preventable medical errors in hospitals are the third leading cause of death in the United States, a Senate panel was told . Only heart disease and cancer kill more Americans. “Medical harm is a major cause of suffering, disability, and death – as well as a huge financial cost to our nation,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said at the outset of the hearing by the Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging.  “This is a problem that has not received anywhere near the attention that it deserves and today I hope that we can focus a spotlight on this matter of such grave consequence,” added Sanders, the panel’s chairman.
Compared to the rest of the world, the United States is about average. “While average is OK, given that we spend more on health care than any other country we should be a lot better. Our high spending is not buying us particularly safe care,” said Dr. Ashish Jha of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Kurtosis

celticwarrior8 wrote: »

Hi, I am looking for some advice on behalf of a friend of mine. He was googling treatments and became afraid of what he was reading and asked me to look into it, I am starting to agree with him.
He's in his late 50's and has a history of lung issues and uses portable oxygen. Apart from that always seemed fine to me. Stopped smoking over 10 years ago.
He went to hospital with a bad chest infection at the start of December but wasn't improving. It got really worse and now is facing kidney failure (seemed to come from nowhere) he was told that the treatment for his lungs is causing issues with the kidneys.
Yesterday he was told he is being sent for an x-ray but they cant give the "drink" they gave before christmas as it is too hard on the kidneys. Thats when the alarm bells rang. 3 days before the kidney issues he was due for a camera, he drank 3 litres of liquid. In the end that was cancelled and he was told he could die as the creatinin in his blood went up to 780.
He is stable now but very far from being out of the woods.
Then we found this information, I'll paste here, please read it and tell me what you think. Was this negligence? I think it was but I am reluctant to confirm it with him as he is still being treated and I dont want the doctors to turn nasty on him.

Oral Sodium Phosphate Safety Alerts

OP no one here is going to be able to say whether this is negligence or not. If your friend is genuinely concerned, they should seek the opinion of anther doctor such as their GP. A medical opinion is going to be required to determine whether any action may have been negligent, you won't be able to answer this from Google or boards.ie. For instance, none of the common solutions used in Ireland for clearing the bowel before a colonoscopy contain sodium phosphate.

Graces7

celticwarrior8 wrote: »

...and we think that is happening. He's on a medical card yet was put into a private room. The consultants have all been great, very udnerstanding, very helpful. But .... was it their fault?
Speaking to other people obviously they are saying there are many many variables that even I would not be aware of, I totally get that. I am just looking for a chat about it with the wider public on boards.ie

You do right to question; maybe there are specialist online support groups too that will be able to give better coverage? google?

Bless you for caring

Wesser

I do not think that oral sodium phosphate is used to clean out the bowel before camera tests by doctors. It is something else that they use. I think you just found this on the Internet and therefore assumed that that is what was given.

I also do not think that it is the same thing as is given before an x-ray. That is contrast material.