Bobby Fischer, Dead of Kidney Failure

[stauffenberg]

Bobby Fischer, the former world chess champion and all-round eccentric, died yesterday at age 64 of kidney failure.  As usual, the news media have not clearly stated the real cause of death, since no one in the industrialized world need die at the onset of kidney failure, but rather, Fischer decided he preferred death to enduring the horrors of dialysis.  If this were made explicit to the general public, perhaps they would wake up to what a problem dialysis actually is, and to the fact that it is not a 'cure' for renal failure.

Fischer in his chess career was noted for his dogged defense even of hopeless positions, so you might say it was out of character for him to give up in the face of renal failure.  But the other side of his personality was extreme fussiness about the circumstances in which he was playing chess and living, so that if the lights were too bright or the squares of the chess board too big at a chess match, he would refuse to play.  If someone like that has to put up with the 10,000 frustrations and inconveniences of dialysis, perhaps he would rather give up than live.

[LightLizard]

i didn't know the details of his passing, stauffenburg.
it was the same cause of death for oscar peterson recently, the great canadian jazz pianist.
there was no mention of the details either, just a mention that he died due to kidney failure.
he was in his early eighties, though..

[KT0930]

I've noticed that it's not unusual, when a celebrity dies of kidney failure for that to be just mentioned in passing in the obit. Basically, the obit consists of one brief paragraph stating the date and cause of death, then three or more paragraphs about what that person is known for. When I took a few journalism classes in college (about three years ago), the prof said that most celebrity obituaries are written years ahead of time and saved for when they pass, then that one paragraph is added, just to make it seem "current". It saves time when it's time to run the article.

[BobT1939]

Stauffenberg once again leaves a post that qualifies him as the resident Black Prince of IHD. Hemodialysis is no fun. Anyone undergoing it would rather that they didn't have to take it on. At the same time, it's not the worst thing in the world. Any of you out there who are dreading the onset of hemodialysis should know this: you have almost certainly undertaken worse things in your life at one time or another, and you can handle hemodialysis. It ain't fun but it's doable. And much better than Bobby Fischer's alternative./bobt

[BobT1939]

Another take on Fischer's outlook. May well not have been the "horrors" of hemodialysis, maybe just a general dislike for medical science.


"Einar S. Einarsson, chairman of the RJF support group says his the cause of death was kidney failure. "He didn't much like medical treatments. He didn't believe in western medical science", says Einar"

Posted by: bmajors at January 18, 2008 09:00

bobt

[stauffenberg]

I agree that Fischer did not like Western medicine, though he had been in a hospital in Iceland since last November for his declining kidney function.  But even if he did not like Western medicine prior to being confronted with dialysis, he certainly would dislike it once he saw what was in store for the endstage renal disease patient.  What other treatment would 20% of all patients eventually voluntarily quit even though quitting meant their death, which is the rate for suicide by treatment withdrawal among dialysis patients?

[petey]

Fischer was a very "different" kind of individual his whole life.  I'm with BobT -- dialysis isn't fun but it's certainly better (at least for my husband Marvin) than the alternative.  Marvin and I made a choice to live with ESRD and all that it brings.  Fischer made a different choice.  I don't personally agree with the choice he made, but I agree that it was his to make.

[willieandwinnie]

I agree with petey. It was his choice.

[LightLizard]

i think your comments were mostly well-intentioned, stauffenburg, so i don't want to seem too critical, but i do believe that the general public knows that dialysis is not a 'cure' for kidney failure. i don't think they want to hear about it, that's all. our culture is designed to provide endless distraction from the thoughts of death and disease and unless you are talking to someone with personal experience of either, most of the time they'll find a way to shut you down. there's no point to 'raising consciousness' about dialysis. not in the general public's mind, anyway.

[petey]

Like Lightlizard said, perhaps the general public doesn't want to hear us talk about dialysis and/or organ donation because they don't want to have to face the reality of death, especially their own.  Or, perhaps they simply don't know what to say to us.  It think it's a subject we're comfortable with (because we live in it), so the question is...how do we make them comfortable talking about it, too?  I don't have an answer to this question.

Lightlizard also said there's no point in raising awareness about dialysis.  But, Marvin and I can't stop trying to raise awareness about dialysis and organ donation; we just feel like we HAVE to do something  -- even if it may be, realistically, fruitless.

All of this reminds me of a quote from Harper Lee's book "To Kill A Mockingbird."  She said, "Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."  Maybe that puts into words the way we feel about Marvin's being on dialysis, about trying to raise awareness, about way too many things in life.