The Social Burden of Kidney Failure: Dialysis, Family Support, Stigma, and Economic Hardship

Abstract

The social cost of kidney failure goes beyond the biological failure of kidney function and the technical cost of dialysis. The manuscript examines the sociomedical components of kidney failure with an emphasis on dialysis scheduling and family backing.  The daily lives of patients who undergo either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis are disrupted. Your work, studies, travel, social participation, time and money management may be affected. Family members help transport as well as provide emotional, treatment, decision, and long-term care support. Parental substance use disorder can negatively affect family functioning. Experiencing kidney failure is not that simple. This may lead to disclosure issues, feeling of isolation, perceived disability, and lack of community integration. Many people worry about the expensive treatment and transport and medicine, the loss of work and productivity and the bureaucratic obstacle to receiving assistance. According to the author, kidney failure is not just a medical problem but also a social and economic problem for the patient, caregiver and community. For an effective response, we need to care for patients in a manner that is patient oriented, involve them in decision making, care givers need transportation, job protection, community-based services, stigma reduction, and wider policies to lessen financial toxicity and improve quality of life...