I am writing this letter to bring to your attention that for the marked concern in the way dialysis patients in this country are treated.  Maslow’s Hierarchy identifies that all individuals need certain items to survive.  The most basic needs are food and shelter, but for the patient in end-stage renal disease (ERSD), there is one more vital need, and that need is dialysis. The dialysis patient is a forgotten and neglected segment of the population that needs your help.  Each patient lives in fear of making even the smallest complaint of the treatment they receive in dialysis units for fear of being “dumped” and then being reassigned to another unit 300 or 400 miles away.

Patients are treated with disrespect by the staff of the dialysis center; their care is done under aseptic technique, putting them at risk for infection and hospitalization for sepsis and possible death from the sepsis.  In essence, the care for the dialysis patient is rationed, controlled by the whim of the center.  There is no Patient Bill of Rights for Dialysis Center’s, which offer any protection for the dialysis patient.  Can you imagine receiving improper care, then being terrified to complain, because you may be “dumped” and you will not receive your life-sustaining therapy?  Not only are Patient Right’s violated, but also are the patient’s basic civil right’s rights.

The list goes on and on.  There is poor staff training, high patient to staff ratios plague the industry, worsened by the nursing shortage.  Dializers are reused on as many as 50 patients with cleaning filters of the harsh chemicals used for the dialysis process, yet let a patient complain about one of these issues, and they are “dumped” to another facility.

Not one patient on dialysis has chosen to end up with ERSD and be hooked up to a machine while they wait on list for a transplant.  They want to return to work, to return to their lives as they were previously.  They don’t want to feel so exhausted everyday that they can barely function.  But last but not least, they just want the simple right to be treated as a human being while undergoing this process.  Is this too much to ask?  Why can’t something be done to ensure that patients on dialysis are treated with respect and have a Patient’s Bill of Right’s.  Why can’t they complain about the level of care they are receiving with fear of being “dumped” and placed in another unit that involves a 10-hour commute three to four times a week.  This can be considered rationing of care, and as a patient can not afford the transportation costs, they become depressed and give up before the transplant becomes available, and give up all hope of survival.

Are basic human rights to much to ask for this population?  Can’t you help to get these patient’s the care they need and get them back to a viable life where they can once again become productive members of society?  Or do you feel that it’s easier to ration their care and then they become a number that goes away and there is one less person to deal with?  What if this was your mother, father, wife, son or daughter?  NO ONE deserves to live their life in fear and have their basic human rights violated every time they walk into the unit that is supposedly saving their life while they wait for a transplant.

Think about it!  Then do something about it!  You are in the position to make the changes for this population!  This population suffers the HIGHEST MORTALITY RATE IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD.  They need your help.  Do it, before we lose more people on dialysis.

Sincerely,