Kidney dialysis is not an option -- it's a necessityPosted on Wednesday, 02.17.10
Forty-one patients in Miami have received notice that Jackson Health System no longer will provide for their outpatient dialysis.
Without dialysis treatment, these patients will face death within several days.
As events unfold at Jackson, overwhelming challenges bigger than any one organization or community are emerging. These include the rising cost of dialysis care coupled with declining reimbursement for dialysis treatment; the obligation of public hospitals to care for the indigent; and decisions to provide care regardless of national origin in the face of difficult hospital budgetary issues.
The question of who will care for indigent patients with kidney failure has been an emerging crisis for more than a decade. For any individual, however, the critical need remains: Any patient with kidney failure must receive dialysis care to survive.
How will life-sustaining care be provided to people with no means of support or health insurance? And how can communities as well as local, state and federal governments assist in such a crisis?
Answers do not come easily, but patient abandonment is not acceptable. County governments, in conjunction with private providers large and small, must find a way to keep patients in treatment short-term.
Meanwhile, state agencies and our legislators must be made aware that action is needed. In communities across Florida, the National Kidney Foundation is working hard to keep those at risk for kidney disease off dialysis by providing screenings for kidney and other conditions that might lead to kidney failure. With the disproportionate high cost of healthcare for kidney disease, we must focus on prevention.
As America's leading volunteer health organization advocating for kidney patients, we are also challenged to address issues of organ donation, barrier-free kidney transplantation, immunosuppressive drug coverage for life and uniform access to care for all in need of any treatment for kidney disease. These priorities need to be shared by our nation's leadership at the urging of our communities, patients, hospitals, dialysis centers and family members.
Communities must be made aware that dialysis is not an optional treatment -- patients must receive care to survive. Perhaps, then, deliberations regarding financial, insurance and related matters can proceed without life and death consequences.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters/story/1483850.html
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