Honesty about getting a colonoscopy

About a year ago I started researching colonoscopy for a patient experience standpoint because my new primary care doctor told me to get one (I'm high risk) and despite my best efforts, she would not let me get out of getting one.  I read a lot about the procedure and talked to friends who had one; basically I was o.k with getting one, but I did not want Versed (midazolam) because of the many negative experiences that I have read about (PTSD, long-term memory-loss, being unable to communicate when you feel pain etc) and one of the nurses in my doctors office verified that they get more than a few serious complaints about this drug.  I scheduled the exam, was promised no sedation, did the prep (easy) and reported to the endo center.  The staff and the doctor were terrible; everyone seemed rushed and unwilling to answer any questions.  Even though I wasn't supposed to get sedation, they tried to make me sign a sedation consent anyway, which I didn't because I told them I wouldn't do the exam with Versed.  They had me change, started an IV, hooked up all of the monitors then the doctor came in and shoved a clipboard into my hands basically demanding that I sign a sedation consent, which I declined  I asked him why I was told that the exam would be sedation-free and now why was I expected to consent to sedation? This guy started to actually yell at me and asked if I had an M.D.  I said no, I have a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry.  He mumbled something about sedation makes for a faster exam for them (worse for the patient, more dangerous etc)..but this is totally unethical conduct.  I was polite and got up to dress; the doctor and 2 nurses basically tried to get me to stay, one yelling at me and 2 apologizing.  I have never seen such a circus in all my life.  As I was leaving the doctor apologized and admitted that the sedation was totally optional and not always in the patients best interest; he asked me to stay for the exam since I had done the prep and at this point my wife stepped in and told him that we wouldn't trust him to do anything.  This is a large hospital endo center.  My primary care doctor told me that they had another similar complaint about this group and won't refer to them anymore. She gave me the name of a different GI doc; I called her and set up an appointment, did the prep and drove across town to her GI outpatient clinic.  Totally different.  They said that no sedation was no problem (lots of medical personnel decline Versed and don't want to pay for propofol), she reassured me that the exam would be sedation free. She did give me the option of painkiller only (fentanyl) if I wanted it; I initally declined but she was so honest that I told her to use her own judgement.  She said she got hers with fentanyl only, no amnesia ect, just a comfortable exam.  The exam with painkiller only takes a little longer, that's why slob gastros like my first guy don't like to do it that way.  The exam was easy, everyone was wonderful. I have to get another within a year and I'l ldo it with the same doctor, fentanyl only.  I'm writing all of this because I had such a bad experience with the first slob gastro who tried to "insist" on Versed after assuring me that I wouldn't get it, that I almost skipped the exam. And that might have killed me.

[tboyd]

Wow - what a crazy story.  Thanks for sharing.  I will definitely share this information with my husband who will be getting his first scope this year.