Here is the standard of care for diabetes and kidney disease:
Any diabetic who has protein in the urine, which means the kidneys aren’t filtering correctly, should be treated with a high-blood pressure drug from the family called “ACE inhibitors” or another family called ARB drugs, because that can halt the progression of loss of kidney function.
A doctor’s failure to follow this standard can be medical malpractice if the patient loses his kidney function.
Poorly treated diabetes is the leading cause of severe kidney disease, accounting for 44% of new cases each year. The kidneys are the body’s filter, removing waste products from the blood and turning them into urine. High levels of blood sugar make the kidneys filter too much blood. All this extra work is hard on the kidneys. After many years, they start to leak, causing waste products to build up in the blood.
When kidney disease is diagnosed early, the drug treatments mentioned here may keep kidney disease from getting worse. If kidney disease is allowed to go untreated for too long, end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, occurs, and the kidneys fail completely. This is very dangerous to the patient, who will need to have a kidney transplant or to have their blood filtered by machine (dialysis).
Patient Safety Tip for Diabetics about Kidney Disease
Ask if your doctor regularly checks your urine for protein. If you are “spilling” protein into your urine, you need a blood pressure drug in the family of ACE inhibitors or ARB drugs.
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