Dialysis May Do More Harm Than Good
A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine questions whether dialysis is the best treatment for nursing home patients. As reported by USA Today, more than half of older nursing home residents die within a year of starting dialysis and "nearly another third experience a significant decline in their ability to perform simple tasks, such as feeding themselves."
Study authors said they hope the results will encourage health care professionals to engage in "open and honest discussions" with residents about the risks of the treatment.
For frail elderly nursing home patients, permanent kidney failure "is
like metastatic cancer with rapid deterioration and short life
expectancy," [says Peter Aronson, Yale University nephrologist]. "The results of this study should inform
end-of-life planning for such patients and encourage consideration of
alternatives to dialysis, such as palliative care" to relieve symptoms.
Read the full article here.