Dialysis in American sucks! Have you known anyone on dialysis?

The American mortality rate is 22 percent a year compared to about 10 percent in other countries such as great britain, canada, japan, italy, france, germany, etc.

Americans don’t get enough and the technicians are poorly trained. There is very little oversight by HCFA.

The average person lives less than 3 years on dialysis.

I should know it sucks for, as a patient on dialysis, I have seen many incidents of neglect and lost many
fellow patients.

Have you known anyone on dialysis? How did they do?

Yes, my sister-in-law. On January 26, 2001, she went in with my brother for her usual dialysis on her usual day, and did not come home. They had pictures of her taken that afternoon, looking very healthy. Apparently the doctor in charge of that “unit” made a mistake with the meds used for her. I suppose that should make all of us who loved her feel better, but somehow it just does not.

Shouldn’t the doctor have been sued or arrested for negligent homicide?

Yes. One, a dear friend had the home dialysis gig - where he and his wife would do the treatment 3 x per day, they had to make sure they were home for deliveries and had space for large amounts of supplies of bags of stuff. Since the wife is a Registered Nurse and worked midnights, this worked pretty much ok for them. He passed away several years later due to further complications from heart problems, amputation etc etc.

The other, another friend, former co-worker, of mine, has been doing dialysis for about 5 years? maybe more. He’s gone from 2 x per week to 3 x per week.

He’s had problems there, one time I interceded on his behalf to attempt to work out a situation that had happened. He was usually scheduled to be hooked up first thing in the am (like 7), got there early, as was his habit, the place wasn’t open (some one hadn’t shown up for work). result was he was hooked up some 45 minutes later than he usually was, and was pretty upset, especially since no one had said anything about ‘gee, we’re sorry for the wait’ (which one gets even in a fast food restaurant).

When they were hooking him up, he asked ‘why’ and was told some one hadn’t shown up for work, he remarked that it was pretty inconvenient, and was told “well, it wasn’t convenient for us, either”.

He went through the roof. To him, and the other patients, it was a ‘am I gonna die here’ level of issue, while for the employees, it was a 'gee it sucks that we have to work harder for a while to catch up '. He ended up being removed via an ambulance since his blood pressure went skyrocketing.

They wanted him to apologize for making a scene. He planned to never return, knowing that it would kill him. I negotiated between the two

Yes, I’ve heard tales of stuff from those places.

Yes, a coworker at my last job. He went in for dialysis Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. According to him, no problems. It was an inconvenience when he had to travel (very rarely) on business; he had to arrange for treatment at whatever city he was at. Usually his dialysis center made the arrangements for him.

Sorry, for the wait re: answer, but I have not been on this until now, anyway: My brother said, the doctor in charge of her care overall, was surprised at what the doctor in the unit claimed. Apparently the unit doc said her doc had discontinued certain meds. So now it is a big free for all claiming the other one said this, etc. Time will tell, but I guarantee they will somehow cover each others butts. (I work in the medical field and have seen it many times.) And of course my brother is so devastated he does not know which end is up, so he will probably take some time to get a real handle on it and pursue it.

it may seem trivial, but don’t forget the grievance process and your congressperson. Dialyis is a medicate covered program.

who worked with me for around 10 years. He was in the on dialysis for 4 years. He died last week after gradually deteriorating.

Testy.

A very good friend of mine has Lupus. About fours years ago, her kidneys failed. She was on the kind of “Dialysis Lite” that takes place through the lining of one of the bodies of the internal organs. Anyway, she never had any trouble with the process. No problems with supplies. Once, a bunch of us even manged to get her out on holiday for a week.
She got a new kidney last year and is now doing wonderfully.

The Big Boss’s daughter. She has diabetis, doesn’t watch her diet, and does drugs. She’s been on dialysis for over two years. The Boss “suggested” that everyone in the office be tested as a possible kidney donor. Fortunately, my blood problems make it impossible for me.

the average mortality rate is ww% a year - with some units as high as 40%.

Not a great treatment to extend your life very long.
And the technicians are often overworked and undertrained and underpaid.

the average mortality rate is 22% a year - with some units as high as 40%.

Not a great treatment to extend your life very long.
And the technicians are often overworked and undertrained and underpaid.