We’re constantly reminded of the organ shortage and the lives lost while waiting for a kidney. Like fish unaware they swim in water, we’ve accepted the rising tide of kidney failure as natural and inevitable—but it’s not. The most urg…
Category: Nephrology
Surviving kidney disease and reforming patient care [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! Health care executive and patient advocate Aja Best discusses her article, “How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey.” She…
How early CKD diagnosis can save lives: a transplant survivor’s journey
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) often develops unnoticed, gradually impairing kidney function. Approximately 950 million people worldwide are affected by CKD, and it is now the 9th leading cause of death, projected to become the 5th leading cause in the n…
How health care workers cope with budget constraints [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with Amol Shrikhande, a nephrologist, to explore the challenges faced by frontline health care workers in an overburdened system. We delve into the real-world …
Medicine’s race dilemma: What science says about genetics and health [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with surgeon Charles Dinerstein to explore the complex role of race in medical research and practice. We dive into the historical use of race as a variable in …
Medical ethics dilemma: a hemodialysis decision
An excerpt from The Committee Will Kill You Now. “You couldn’t get her niece to budge on the hemodialysis decision?” Harper sank into the resident lounge’s threadbare couch and kicked up her feet. “Nope.” Noah slumpe…
The dark truth about dialysis
When a colleague recommended a book, I hoped it would be something enjoyable – perhaps a sports anthology, a music biography, or even a novel. Unfortunately, it was about dialysis, the great American scam that it is. As a nephrologist (kidney doc…
A patient’s resilience and the challenge of dialysis
After she developed a serious complication, she wanted to know the facts plainly stated. I told her the treatment would change her quality of life; it would be hard but doable. To this, she replied, “Now, don’t bullsh*t me, I don’t li…
The unjust reality of racial disparities in pediatric kidney transplants
I noticed a troublesome trend during my three weeks working in the pediatric dialysis unit and the post-kidney transplant unit. The whiter and younger pediatric patients were resting comfortably in the post-transplant unit with their new surgically pla…
Is AI the solution for the shortage of nephrologists? ChatGPT weighs in.
As I’m sure you know, nephrology is the branch of internal medicine that deals with the kidneys. And in the U.S., young doctors are quite unlikely to choose this path. Why? The combination of long hours, chronic illness, and (relatively) unimpres…
