OT Kidney failure?

I'm in school now and I'm really kind of ticked off at my medical terminology teacher. He is a retired chiropractor who thinks he knows everything.
We were talking about the digestive system and he mentioned that he won't do a colonoscopy becuse it's not worth it. Being the inquisitive student that I am, I questioned his motive.
His response, "the prep can kill you" and I was thinking that's true it kind of sucks, he continues"it has caused kidney failure to some patients"
I asked about the benefits versus risks, like isn't it more dangerous and more risky for someone with your (he is obese, former smoker and has diabetes) history to avoid the scope for uncommon risk of kidney failure. Wouldn't crc be more dangerous based on benefits versus risks?
And this is the clincher, he said, "if they found cancer I would rather die than live with an ostomy"
Really nice thing to tell students one of whom has a dad with severe CD which he is aware of
he doesn't know about my UC.

So the question is, do you say something? He is telling people that it's too dangerous to have a scope and it's not worth it. And the reason he chose was not the biggest risk. What about the sedation or bowel perforation...
He has said other irresponsible things in the past but this really made me angry. It could be becuse I know deep down that I will probably need an ostomy someday. I think ostomies are beautiful. They save lives. And if I need one in the future I would be fine with that (I just want to raise a family first , pregnancies are difficult with abdominal surgeries)

Thanks for reading and please let me know your opinions

I have no comments on the teacher, but yes I believe the old phosphate bowel prep agents
may have caused some kidney failure, as can cat scan with iodine contrast, best to also take with
bicarbonate IV.
Old Mike

I know there are kidney risks but some Preps are riskier than others.

ByeByeUC said...
This guy is a complete and total ass. And I would most definitely tell him that to his face.

Thanks!! I wasn't sure if I was just being overly critical

I might have to find a more diplomatic way to tell him as he is the one giving me my grades.

You could say there are many facts missing in that statement.

q

I agree you should say it more tactfully .... He is your teacher after all. I was just thinking out loud. The fact that he said he'd rather die than have an ostomy is what really made me call him an ass. Sorry. Go die then.

ByeByeUC said...
I agree you should say it more tactfully .... He is your teacher after all. I was just thinking out loud. The fact that he said he'd rather die than have an ostomy is what really made me call him an ass. Sorry. Go die then.

I know why you called him that; That ostomy comment was quite distasteful. (See being diplomatic)
I think the vast majority of people are very happy to be alive with an ostomy over being dead from cancer or complications or in excruciating pain and not functioning normally.

Do they do those teach review sheets at your university at the end of the semester? Maybe that's a good place to put these comments

I agree he sounds like an ass but preps for C-scopes can cause kidney issues - in that respect he's true. I'm such a statistic. I used Osmoprep a few times for my scopes before it was black listed. My result? Chronic microhematuria and chronic kidney and bladder infections. Luckily it has never caused me more serious issues.

But as for the rest, what he says is highly irresponsible and just fear mongering.

It seems like every chiropractor in the world understand gastroenterology than the GIs who spent 9 years training in it. Its disgusting. Ill never even speak to a chiro

notsosicklygirl said...
I don't agree with his opinion. I know a lot of preps are bad on the kidneys, especially the pill prep. I've done it a few times with good luck, but there is a warning on the package. In the case of routine scopes, I guess it's his prerogative not to get them, but I don't think it's appropriate to scare other people out of doing preventative testing. You may have the scope and find nothing... you may have the scope and find polyps and know to do scopes more often... you may find and remove precancerous polyps... It's better to do it and to have options in my opinion. I guess if your family has zero history, and your risk is very low, maybe it's not necessary, but take it from me, even with zero family history, you can have a precancerous polyp in your 20s. I am thankful I had that removed during a scope.

The worst part about what he said, to me, is that he perpetuated the idea that life with an ostomy is not worth living. I had one and a person with an ostomy is still the same person, just as valuable a life as anyone else. Living with an ostomy isn't bad. I really hate people painting this awful, ugly picture. It's sad that people with ostomies are made to feel ashamed.

This. You captured what I was thinking very eloquently.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was dismayed by his ostomy comment.

I really hope no one in the class discourages their parents from routine scoping. My good friend is watching her aunt suffer from very advanced crc. I guarantee she would have preferred a scope five years prior and be living with an ostomy. Over chemo and radiation.

Dikid said...
He was discouraging routine scopes at 50. i guess I am critical of him becuse he has also said other things that made me uncomfortable (like vaccines are risky becuse can cause autism, ALL carbs are bad...)

Absolute crank. Should be disbarred from teaching.

If I'd been there I'd deffo have put in a complaint about him.