Task: Answer Verification
Input (English): Question: Is a single-center review of the death notification form : discontinuing dialysis before death a surrogate for withdrawal from dialysis?
Answer: There is physician variability in interpretation of discontinuation of dialysis before death. Thirty percent of patients who discontinued dialysis therapy before death died 3 or fewer days from their last dialysis treatment, making uremia an unlikely cause of death, but suggesting that nephrologists wanted to note that a decision not to continue dialysis therapy had been made before the patient died. Discontinuing dialysis therapy as noted on the death notification form is not a surrogate for withdrawal from dialysis as a cause of death. Providing criteria for reporting discontinuing dialysis therapy would allow us to clarify the incidence of withdrawal from dialysis as a cause of death.
Output (English): no