New York Dialysis Patients Receive 'Worst' Care

Filed in archive Treatment on December 28, 2006

According to recent statistics, patients undergoing dialysis in New York--most of them diabetics--receive some of the worst care in the country. It's a truly sobering revelation.

At New York dialysis centers, those being treated are more likely to suffer from anemia and are less likely to have enough impurities and excess fluid removed from their blood, allowing more damage to their bodies, according to the records.

Experts say the disparity is caused in part by the fact that New York is dominated by small dialysis providers, many of them run by people with little background in medicine who entered the business to meet the surging demand.

Many of the smaller centers provide good care, experts say, but a lot also lack the money and staff training to compete on a quality-of-care basis with the national dialysis chains that dominate the market across the rest of the country.

It is truly horrifying that money can mean the difference between life and death. Of course, it often does in America's health care system. What can be done?