Doctors tend to steer elderly people with failing kidneys toward dialysis even when patients say they’d rather avoid such treatments, a new study finds. And when patients decline dialysis, which wouldn’t buy much more time for a frail, elderly patient, doctors often try to convince them to change their minds, the study shows.
“Dialysis is an amazing technology that has extended the lives of many people,” said study leader Dr. Susan Wong, an assistant professor at the University of Washington and a core investigator at the VA Health Services Research and Development Center. “But the benefits are less certain in older, frailer patients.”To take a closer look at what happens when elderly patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) decline dialysis, Wong and her colleagues tracked down the records of 851 veterans, with an average age of 75, who had successfully opted to skip the treatment.
