The renal and hemodialysis industries are fraught with abuses. The shorter treatment procotols used by most for-profit dialysis centers in the U.S. give patients the illusion that they are receiving the same amount and quality of treatment as before, when this is not generally the case.
Some units also reuse their arterial blood lines.
Dialyzer packaging states that it was designed for single use only, but Medicare requires reuse, even though it charges the public for a new dialyzer each time the patient has a treatment. The CDC recommends that dialyzers used for patients with known AIDS or hepatitis infections should never be reused, and that these patients should be separated during treatment for the safety of nursing staff and other patients. Australia's hemodialysis patients state that they are very upset with the reuse policies currently being followed in Australia. Because the euthanasia laws have now been officially enacted, Australians fear that socialized medicine laws like those in England and Europe will be enacted in Australia, resulting in greater deterioration in hemodialysis treatments. Of all the countries from which we receive e-mail, Canada is one of the very few where reuse, reportedly, is virtually nonexistent.