Movies depicting kidney failure/diaylsis

[gothiclovemonkey]

Has anyone seen a movie or show that actually depicts it realistically?
I just watched the new version of Steel Magnolias, with Queen Latifah, and its like the old one, they arent showing a fistula or graft, or cath,, its like... idk... just not realistic...that frustrates me a bit lol

Note to self - never ever watch that movie again. Holy crap was I bawling.
When my docs told my parents I cant get pregnant, I always assumed they meant I physically could not concieve a child.... Now, I know they meant I shouldnt... And of course, thats part of that movie, so It was a bawl fest. I hadnt seen the old one since i was really young, and had forgotten how emotional a movie it is, on its own... add to it that we have this to deal with... wow!



EDITED:  Moved from off topic to Dialysis Discussion - Rerun

[Michael Murphy]

The only time I remember Dialysis in a major Movie was the Star Trek IV The Voyage Home where the following scene took place.
First, “Bones” encounters an old woman on a gurney in the hallway and asks her a question:

McCoy: What’s the matter with you?

Patient: Kidney… dialysis.

McCoy: Dialysis?! What is this? The Dark Ages? Here! You swallow that and if you have any more problems, just call me!

Later, as the crew is escaping, McCoy encounters the woman again, who’s telling everybody that McCoy had given her some pills and she grew a new kidney.
That was the only movie that showed up when I googled Dialysis Portrayed in a Movie.
The funny thing is I remember the scene vividly and occasionally think about it while in dialysis,  all of a sudden I'll look around and laugh hearing Dr. Mccoy say what is this the dark ages.

[goofball]

Well now there's "Dumb and Dumber To" 

[gothiclovemonkey]

Dumb and DUmber to has dialysis? oh dear...

Ive seen quite a few tv shows and movies that have something to do with kidney failure/dialysis, and id say out of all of them, i think ive only seen maybe ONE that actually showed it realistically... but then turned around and made the transplant thing seem like a freakin walk in the park.


Haha well at least in Star Trek, it makes sense to do that! That would be awesome. Someone get on that!

Now, im SURE that its not only kidney stuff that gets wrongly portrayed in film, but damn, its not like they couldnt very simply do a quick bit of research for their film.... when i do my writing i try to make it realistic, if i have something i dont know, i research it! not that hard!!

[iolaire]

Here you go, but still no still no needles:
Fixing Paco: Season 1, Episode 2 
Dreamy Dialysis Technician 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2386782/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
Episode  on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyROObPmejM

http://www.fixingpaco.org/
looks to be a sort of infomercial telanovela by a hospital in LA.
 
Paco Fuentes is a man with a full life. As a loving husband, father of four, and a handyman with a thriving business, Paco’s motto is always, “You broke it. I fix it!” But when his health begins to decline due to kidney failure, Paco must confront the disease that will change his life, and finally accept that he is now the one who needs to be fixed. Following the Fuentes family’s very real trials and tribulations in dealing with Paco’s illness, each episode of Fixing Paco educates dialysis patients and their families about the treatment option of kidney transplantation, living donation, and being proactive in healthcare. Shot in English and Spanish, Fixing Paco is a groundbreaking series that cuts through language barriers, delivering a message of hope, as Paco triumphs in battling his disease, and learns to live again.

 Fixing Paco was produced by The Mendez National Institute of Transplantation, in association with Celtino Entertainment, and was made possible by a generous grant from the UniHealth Foundation.
 

[JW77]

John Q, American Film.. Not bad.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251160/  OK thats a heart transplant one but still.

Koma  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408970/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl

Thriller, but strangely one of my favourites.. Not for the faint hearted.



Unconditional

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconditional_%28film%29

Kidney Thieves.. Short comedy:

http://www.casesensitivefilms.com/kidneythieves/

[Simon Dog]

Awake

[jeannea]

In the last season of ER, they had Noah Wyle's character on dialysis. They had him working and doing dialysis which works for some and not others. When they showed him getting dialysis, the machine was right, the chair was right, and the needles went in his lower arm. The room was dim which is wrong and he had no blanket. I know those are minor. I can't remember for sure but I think they got him a transplant right before ER ended it's series.

Steel Magnolias isn't very accurate. Instead of a fistula, they were using needles to "strengthen her veins" or something like that. Then when she collapsed into her coma, she grabbed herself in pain. But the pain wasn't in the right place and pain would only be a sign of failure if you ignored lots of other stuff first. Unless we are to think she has pancreatitis? That hurts like hell. She didn't seem to feel pain in the right place for that either. Then they kept her on vent in the coma way too long. She would have had a trach by then.

I haven't really seen accurate things on tv or movies. Partly, kidney disease is boring and goes on forever. They always need a transplant immediately and always get one. It's the nature of writing drama.

[mamagemini]

The new show called The Red Band Society....a young adult was on dialysis and also had liver failure. he looked great. after dialysis he ran off to almost have sex with a young girl. what when i get home all i want to do is sleep and keep my food down. the only way i would have energy is to drink diet mtn. dew....lol

[gothiclovemonkey]

im sure kids are a bit more resilient to this crap, but i imagine thats still not quite as realistic. Although, teen boy hormones... if presented with a chance to 'get some' i doubt much would stop them haha

[rsudock]

YEh Red Band Society show made NO mention of ESRD. 

[BobN]

"Whose Life Is It Anyway"

Didn't get much press, but a pretty good movie.

[PaulBC]

McCoy: Dialysis?! What is this? The Dark Ages? Here! You swallow that and if you have any more problems, just call me!

Thanks for mentioning this! I haven't seen that movie since it came out. It is one of the better original-series Star Trek films and deserves another viewing. Needless to say, I completely missed this. I might have noticed, but wouldn't have remembered.

And indeed, it is the Dark Ages. Why do you ask?

[PaulBC]

I went ahead and watched Star Trek IV on DVD this weekend. It holds up pretty well after 29 years. It's the only one of the 6 original series films that captured the feel of the comedic episodes.

A couple of other comments. The woman in the dialysis scene has some kind of clear plastic canopy over her. Is that anything real? It doesn't make much sense to me, and has nothing to do with dialysis as far as I know. She is elderly and wearing an oxygen tube that is no longer needed after she calls out that she "grew a new kidney". Well, who knows what else was in McCoy's pill? However, it is doubtful the hospital would have identified the new kidney in that amount of time.

So much for nitpicking. McCoy had some other opinions of late 20th century medicine. He compares a discussion on chemotherapy with "The Spanish Inquisition" and tells the attending surgeon to put his "butcher knives" away when he (forcibly) takes over the care of Chekhov.

All very plausible for what a doctor visiting from the 23rd century might think of today's medical practices. Not to knock today's doctors, who are doing what they can with available technology.

On a more depressing note, I have to say that the 1986 hospital didn't look all that different than a hospital in 2015, despite how it might look to a visitor from 2286.

[iolaire]

All very plausible for what a doctor visiting from the 23rd century might think of today's medical practices. Not to knock today's doctors, who are doing what they can with available technology.

I wonder every so often what treatments will be rendered pointless by the time we grow old.   It feels like there are all kinds of medical advances that we benefit from but you can be sure that not all of them will stand the test of time...  Remember there was a time when people who prompted hand washing before surgery were considered quacks...

[PaulBC]

Another fictional reference to dialysis, but not a movie. In the MASH episode "A War for All Seasons" (1980) they build an improvised dialysis machine using sausage casings. That may even have been the first time I heard of dialysis, and it is something that stuck in my mind ever since.

[Bill Peckham]

Another fictional reference to dialysis, but not a movie. In the MASH episode "A War for All Seasons" (1980) they build an improvised dialysis machine using sausage casings. That may even have been the first time I heard of dialysis, and it is something that stuck in my mind ever since.

Kolff used sausage casings to accomplish the first successful dialysis treatment - he built the first machine during WWII in occupied Holland (NY Times link). MASH episode : Plausible

[PaulBC]

Kolff used sausage casings to accomplish the first successful dialysis treatment - he built the first machine during WWII in occupied Holland (NY Times link). MASH episode : Plausible

MASH was one of my favorite shows, and I think they had a good research team. It's also an intriguing storyline, so no complaints.

If I find anything implausible, it's just that a small group of doctors could put one together in the middle of the Korean War (with parts from a Sears catalog). There may even be some precedent for that, but dialysis machines continued to be very rare through most of the 50s, and if that was possible, you'd think hospitals would be building them all over the place.

[Michael Murphy]

No the FDA would have stopped them.  During the Vietnam war some medics were using a spray on super glue on wounds to control bleeding.  The FDA found out and had the military stop the use of the glue.

[noahvale]

^

[Alex C.]

I wouldn't expect that 'Hollywood' would consider dialysis as any sort of a plausibly interesting scene. Sitting on your @$$ for 4 hours in a harshly-lit medical facility? Good god, I can see people getting up to buy popcorn already......

Let's face it; dialysis may be scary, but for the most part, it's just plain DULL.

[PaulBC]

I wouldn't expect that 'Hollywood' would consider dialysis as any sort of a plausibly interesting scene. Sitting on your @$$ for 4 hours in a harshly-lit medical facility? Good god, I can see people getting up to buy popcorn already......

Let's face it; dialysis may be scary, but for the most part, it's just plain DULL.

Well, it wouldn't have stopped Andy Warhol, who made an 8 hour movie of the Empire State Building. Warhol is not "Hollywood" I admit.

But I can imagine a movie like Norma Rae, Silkwood, or Erin Brockovich (not necessarily with a female protagonist, but it does seem to work out that way). There is plenty of drama both medical, and from the kidney industrial complex perspective. You wouldn't need a 4 hour long take of dialysis to convey the basic principle. There's also no excuse for getting it wrong when you can walk into a center in any populated area and see it firsthand.

Cancer gets a lot of attention in film. Trauma and heart disease show up as well. Transplants, yes there's John Q. I like Denzel Washington, but I can't really get on board with a protagonist who is threatening innocent lives to save one life. That kind of thing is just too much Hollywood. (added after edit: I realize he does not actually intend to kill any hostages).

I sometimes think kidney disease is the Rodney Dangerfield of life threatening conditions. I know how little I thought about kidneys before my personal brush with it. It is interesting to talk to people, and occasionally find out that they have a relative (usually older) on dialysis. This is not an unusual problem at all, but it is off the radar for most people.

[noahvale]

^

[gothiclovemonkey]

ive noticed two things about talking about D on tv/movies.
its almost always, "I need a kidney or ill die" OR its BAM i got a kidney right now, after only knowing about it for a few days.
I saw one the other day (was it malcom in the middle? i think) that the lady who needed a kidney was called in by the dr, mid day, to get a kidney she didnt even want to have.... from her sister, who had it removed that morning.... that one made me LOL because wow...
as for the actual dialysis, they never ever mention needing fistulas/grafts/caths etc...

[jeannea]

Fistulas aren't "pretty" enough for movies. You can only have perfectly placed interesting scars. Unless you're the bad guy.