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DialysisEthics History


DialysisEthics was founded in 1999 by health care workers who noticed a decline in the level of care given those receiving kidney dialysis. Problems in this area of medicine were pointed out and DialysisEthics was a major factor in gaining the notice of those in the highest levels of government and business. From '99 to the present DEO (DialysisEthics) has worked through the site, at meetings and hearings, and behind the scenes to assure the voiceless are being heard. Under the leadership of workers and patients.  DialysisEthics gained national attention at the 2000 Senate hearings; patient stories were heard and documents from healthcare workers were examined.  Aiding us over the years have been such influential people as Lawyer/Journalist Carl Ginsburg and Lawyer Paul Kent Bramlett with pro bono advice and encouragement.  Accomplishments of the organization have been:


*The 2000 Federal Senate hearing, which was started by and featured DialysisEthics members, President Clinton allocated more money for inspections. Dialysis workers also became part of the state inspection teams (RNs, etc)

     Read testimony from the 2000 US Senate hearing: 2000_Senate_Testimony


*Verified statistics are now backing up the information on Medicare's "Dialysis Facility Compare"


*Doctors have to review patient charts before they can be reimbursed


*DEO was responsible for getting reports started by the Office of Inspector General and General Accounting Office in 2000 and 2003 on conditions in the kidney dialysis field of medicine


*Current and longtime DEO members were a major portion of a group in Colorado that helped push through a state bill for the certification of dialysis technicians in 2007 and it's renewal in 2012.

     Read the story behind the 2012 effort: 
     Part 1
     Part 2


     Hear audio from the hearings:
     Colorado_House_Hearing
     Colorado_Senate_Hearing

     See a fact sheet presented to the Colorado State Reps:  fact_sheet

*DEO has been responsible for many dismissed, nonviolent patients being returned to their clinics or being accepted by other clinics and hospitals


This site is being kept alive as a reminder of the history of this field of medicine, a field of medicine that has had the highest mortality in the industrialized world.  But the spirit of this organization has been continued today with others.  The people at Dialysis Advocates have continued the DE tradition of pointing out and dealing with problems with kidney dialysis that so many have chosen to ignore.

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