Dialysis Patients: Discussions About Care for the End of Life Survey

[okarol]

MESSAGE FROM NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION:
Thank you very much to those of you who have responded to the NKF survey! We have received 134 survey responses from NKF members on dialysis treatment. We appreciate hearing your thoughts on this topic, especially knowing its' extreme sensitivity. If you have not had a chance to respond to this survey, it's not too late. Go to the "Discussions About Care for the End of Life Survey." It will take about 5 minutes to answer all of the questions. Your time can help you and others.
 
(Please only complete this survey one time) 
 
Sheila Weiner, MSW, LCSW
Patient Services Director
National Kidney Foundation
30 East 33rd Street
New York, NY  10016
ph: 212-889-2210 ext.198
fax: 212-689-9261
e-mail: sheilaw@kidney.org

Thinking about changes in health status is often very difficult. With this is mind, the National Kidney Foundation is interested in hearing your thoughts about end-of-life care for people on dialysis so that we can help improve communication and care in dialysis units. If you are on dialysis, you can help by completing this survey (only people on dialysis should complete this survey). It will take about 5 minutes to answer all of the questions. Your time can help you and others. Thank you very much! Go to: http://www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey.zgi?p=WEB2265XZLAN9H

[Ang]

consider  it  done

[Bill Peckham]

done  I've never discussed it ... I guess I'm in denial

[Wattle]

i'm not going anywhere     just because I am on dialysis. Who says I need 'end of life care'   

[Joe Paul]

 

[Rerun]

i'm not going anywhere     just because I am on dialysis. Who says I need 'end of life care'   

This is "denial".  You are on life support!  You better make your wishes known and put things in order just in case.   You may get smucked on the way to dialysis.  One never knows.

[jbeany]

I've discussed it with my family, but not with my docs.  Which reminds me, I need to get my sis to sign my living will forms.. . .I gotta find a notary around here.

[st789]

I never thought of dialysis as a form of life support.  Now I think of it, it is a form of life support.  One day you are here, the next day you never know.

[kitkatz]

Those questions got me thinking.  I am going to discuss some of it at my next dr appointment.

[thegrammalady]

I never thought of dialysis as a form of life support.  Now I think of it, it is a form of life support.  One day you are here, the next day you never know.

if it isn't life support, what would you call it, YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT OR A TRANSPLANT. and transplants aren't permanent.  in another thread i refereed to kidney disease as a terminal illness, several people objected strongly to my use of that term. (everyone is intitled to their own opinion.) someone even felt badly because i "dwelt" on death. i don't. but give this some thought, then forget about it. "the moment of birth is the beginning of death" everyone dies at some point or other. i don't expect my house to burn down, but i have fire insurance. i don't leave the house expecting to be in an auto accident, but i have car insurance. it never hurts to be prepared, the best way is to do it while you are healthy, which we on dialysis aren't my parents, both in their 80's, have taken care of everything, on their own terms. when they pass (hopefully not soon) there will be few decisions for my sister and i to make. nothing will be done in grief, it is allready taken care of. this is something we all need to take care of, for that time, whenever it may be.

[Wattle]

i'm not going anywhere     just because I am on dialysis. Who says I need 'end of life care'   

This is "denial".  You are on life support!  You better make your wishes known and put things in order just in case.   You may get smucked on the way to dialysis.  One never knows.

Rerun you missed it     My affairs are in order. Not because I am on dialysis but there maybe a bus out there with my name on it. Give me a little credit. 

[Amanda From OZ]

I haven't made or discussed any plans............... and i don't plan to either.

[stauffenberg]

I have watched so many fellow dialysis patients go through terrible but needless horror over the last few months or weeks of their lives that I was profoundly relieved when I found out about the Dignitas Organization, which is a voluntary group of physicians in Switzerland who painlessly and caringlly euthanize severely ill patients for a nominal fee.  What they do is perfectly legal under Swiss law, which deserves to be congratulated for its humanity and decency in allowing such a service to save people from useless suffering.  I always feel greatly reassured facing the possibility of all sorts of hideous physical deteriorations, just because I know that I can escape them when I want, by a method of exit which is guaranteed to be gentle and certain.  I think that the first ethical obligation of medical staff when dealing with patients having serious disease should be to tell them about this possibility.

[bolta72]

Actually everyone should have one of these in one form or another

[keefer51]

Yes i took care of everything. I am by myself and don't have anything to worry about. Everything i did was on the pretense i will die from kidney disease. Of course i could be run over by a banana truck tommorrow! All of my family knows of my wishes.