Large Dialysis Organizations Run-Ins with The Law and the Media
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- Written by: Super User
(see John Oliver and friends' take on kidney dialysis after the following)
!!!!!!!Out Now!!!!!!!
How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine
***See author's interview with NorthWest Passages on YouTube***
(from the author's website)
How did a lifesaving medical breakthrough become a for-profit enterprise that threatens the people it’s meant to save?
Six decades ago, researchers achieved the impossible: a treatment that made kidney failure a manageable condition instead of a death sentence. And yet, in the hands of a predatory medical industry, this triumph led to skyrocketing costs and worsening care.
A gripping microcosm of American health care gone wrong, How to Make a Killing recounts how the optimism of the 1950s and 1960s—when transplants and early dialysis machines offered hope—gave way to anguished debates about the ethics of rationing (and profiting from) life-saving care. After Congress made renal disease the only “Medicare for All” condition, Big Dialysis proliferated, and the Hippocratic oath gave way to the profit motive.
A triumph of investigative research, Tom Mueller’s book features an unforgettable cast of characters: CEOs who dress as Musketeers to exhort more aggressive profit-seeking, nephrologist insiders who reveal the substandard care this causes, and heroic patients who risk their lives to reveal the truth.
Tom Mueller's books and articles
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(updated 2023)
(Click the image for information on finding a living donor, home dialysis, and other info)
The following video and articles highlight what happens when a CEO can't tell the difference between a Taco Bell and a dialysis clinic (that observation was made by the comedian John Oliver):
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Profit and Loss: America on Dialysis
This December 2020 Scientific American series of articles points out many of the multitude of problems affecting kidney dialysis:
*When large corporations come in hospitalizations will go up and treatment quality will go down.
*The dialysis companies have figured out how to game the system and increase their already outrageous profits by getting dialysis patients off Medicare and into private insurance where private insurance can be gouged! This results in higher insurance premiums for the rest of us.
*Also pointed out are the downsides of having nephrologists have a financial stake in dialysis clinics. There is also some discussion of the other side of the argument.
*Another article points out the racial disparities in dialysis. However one doctor does provide a bright spot.
*An uplifting article discusses how the pool of available kidneys has been increased with the use of things like hepatitis C infected kidneys.
*An article discusses how dialysis patients have a hard time accessing palliative and hospice care.
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Dialysis: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The link provided below brings up a quick 24 minute video which provides an excellent introduction to the goings-on and history of kidney dialysis through the anesthesia of humor. Kent Thiry and Davita play a prominent role in this clip about an area of healthcare that has been on the forefront of bad medicine. It led one commentator to state: "We are paying the most to get the least." That seems to be American healthcare in a nutshell.":
Credit: John Oliver on Youtube
John Oliver and dialysis on Youtube
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Bonus - Click for Diabetes Care
(a bit more encouraging - sort of)
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The Strangest Show on Earth!
Former CEO Kent Thiry liked to call Davita a "Village" where he was the mayor. But was it as Dr. Peter Laird of Lancaster CA called it: “the Village of the Damned”? This hard-hitting article by Luc Hatlestad might help you decide:
credit: Eddie Guy and 5280 magazine
Read more: Large Dialysis Organizations Run-Ins with The Law and the Media
Possible Solutions for Kidney Dialysis
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- Written by: Super User
(Post-update: 'Save the Billionaires (or not)' Walk in Omaha Nebraska May 6th, 2023!)
For years this site has been a tinderbox with all the various problems highlighted in kidney dialysis and I was content to keep the site up and go my way. Then along came the announcement of a book. It put a log on that tinderbox, but no flames yet. Then along came this article - ignition.
It brought me back to a day in 2012 when we were in the Colorado Senate Health and Human Services committee for the renewal of a Colorado state bill. I was answering questions after my testimony. At about 11:15 of this video, State Senator (R) Kevin Lundberg basically stated that it was ironic we didn't need tech certification when it was mostly nurses giving dialysis treatments back in the old days. I think I gave him a good answer, but I really wanted to tell him what I thought the root of problem was - a for-profit system that was putting their bottom line ahead of patient care! But I bit my lip since we had an uneasy alliance with the large for-profit dialysis companies DaVita and Fresenius, they were also backing the bill at that point (they were against it in 2007).
So for more than twenty years I've felt uneasy that only band-aids seem to be being put on this kidney dialysis field of medicine - not real fundamental change that I can see! What kind of fundamental change would I like to see? I mentioned it in these two blogs: Blog #5 and Blog #6. Bottom line, break them up - and care cooperatives are looking very, very promising!
I've spent years screaming about the problems in kidney dialysis (plenty of ammo). Maybe it is time to do some screaming about the way it could be!
More info:
Fact Sheet
Scandals-articles, etc...
Messages to Federal Rep. Lauren Boebert - and 2026 Federal Midterm Colorado District 4 Candidates
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- Written by: Super User
Messages to CD4 Incumbent Colorado Federal Rep. Lauren Boebert
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Messages to CD4 2026 Candidates:
(in alphabetical order)
Messages to CD4 Democratic Candidate Trisha Calvarese
Messages to CD4 Democratic Candidate Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher
Messages to and Replies from CD4 Democratic Candidate John Padora
*update 02/26/2026: the opinion at this point is John Padora is looking like the best fit for this district - click John Padora link above to see why. It will be added a couple of candidates seem too busy to reply to messages. Have to wonder if they would be too busy to address this writer's concerns if elected.
*update 03/11/2026: At the Colorado County Assembly, this writer wound up casting his vote for Trisha Calvarese. John Padora's stance on nuclear power was concerning. And Rear Admiral Eileen Laubacher's possible ties to the DCCC were equally concerning.
Messages to and a Reply from CD4 Democratic Candidate Jenna Preston
**Update 02/06/2026 - latest 'Total Contributions' for the CD4 democratic candidates is now available! (coverage dates: 01/01/2025 to 12/31/2025) There are concerns about at least one candidate's outsized war chest
Emails to and Replies from Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert about Healthcare
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- Written by: Super User
(ordered by latest first)
update 11/10/2025: links to latest messages to and from Rep. Boebert will now be provided. Oldest three messages will remain on this webpage for now
Message 14 03/27/2026: Strayed, but is Rep. Boebert back on the 'Road to Redemption'?
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Message 13 01/25/2026: Lauren Boebert's Road to Redemption just got Longer
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Message 12 12/25/2025: Christmas Tale for CO Rep. Lauren Boebert and a Petition
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Messages 10+11 12/10/2025: Indiana Mother and Daughter, a Christmas Carol, and stocking stuffers!
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A very nice Reply 4 from Rep. Boebert + Message 9 12/01/2025:
A personal reply and maybe? some help for an Indiana Mother and Daughter
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Messages 7+8 11/(20+24)/2025: Story of Gary Indiana's Mother and Daughter Directly from Them
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Message 6 11/18/2025: A Mother in Indiana in Trouble and a Correction
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Message 5 11/14/2025: Door opened to a 'Road to Redemption', Can it Stay Open?
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Message 4 11/10/2025: A Congratulations and Steps Forward for Healthcare
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Message 3 10/23/2025: a non-Reply from Rep. Boebert - and a Response (see below)
"Rep Boebert,
I wanted to thank you for your kind reply! I got your letter about foreign policy when I had sent messages about healthcare. Having been in the Army Security Agency ('73 - '78) I instantly recognized an encrypted message! I'm a little rusty at deciphering encrypted messages, but I plan on sharing your reply with my 'Brothers and Sisters in Arms' at Common Defense. If they are a little rusty deciphering, I plan on also sharing your letter with your friends also running for CD4 at the midterm. We will get this deciphered! And don't worry, I've got your letter up on a site I maintain to better spread it around. Letter: https://dialysisethics2.org/open_images/BoebertForeignPolicy.pdf
Kind regards,
Chris Schwab"
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Message 2 10/17/2025: Singapore's Universal Healthcare - an Alternative to Medicare-for-All (does it surpass M4A)?
Rep. Boebert,
In my last email I had some suggestions about what could be a knifepoint into the heart of some very bad medicine. After 25 years of watching this boil and fester, I'm still convinced kidney dialysis is putting out some bad medicine. But after attending your virtual townhall meeting I realize you are a very busy person. So if I didn't get your attention yet, this might: KIDS!! and Dialysis.
So much for a rehash. I've written about a possible knifepoint into the heart of bad medicine, now it might be time to throw a tomahawk. Kidney Dialysis hasn't been my only interest over the years, I've been a fan of Medicare-for-All. However it looks like the president may have stumbled on something better years ago! But being a busy person he may have had to move on before exploring it properly? Back in 2016 and 2017 I wrote a couple of letters-to-the-editor about this alternative in the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper: Letters+articles from Fox News and New York Times. (links to articles from red and blue perspectives included)
It seems I've heard the reason the system mentioned hasn't been implemented is that it would be too hard to do. But we now have a president with, uh, unconventional ways. Also from the letters, it might be noticed that I've been a bit unhappy with the president. There was one incident during his first campaign that sent me into a rage, but over the years I've gotten it down to a slow burn - story for another day.
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Message 1 10/15/2025: Kidney Dialysis - Healthcare at its Worst?
Rep. Boebert,
To say I haven't been a fan of our current President would be an understatement. However even I have some very grudging respect for what he has done with the current Middle East ceasefire. And it looks like it has ignited an epiphany in me - our President maybe on the Road to Redemption! Just maybe. (hey, possibly we are all on a Road to Redemption)
So what could be a next step for our President's journey? Before I offer some suggestions, I will give some personal background. I would say my family has been on a hard, medical journey since the year 2000. Anyway, to give you an idea of my family's personal journey and some of the work my friends and I have been up to, I would suggest this intro - this journey has been going on since the year 2000.
As a further intro I would suggest the following video by the comedian John Oliver, seeing this through the anesthesia of humor might be helpful: How NOT to run a medical company. I don't know how you feel about Mr. Oliver's humor, but in my opinion this just could be the best of his work.
And if you or people you know might want to take a REALLY deep dive, I would suggest this fairly recent book by NYT's best-selling author Tom Mueller: 'How to Make a Killing'. Mr. Mueller threw a haymaker with this book. And I'm not saying that just because he and I are friends. If you would like to talk to him, I can try and get a hold of him. However I'll say he has been going through a rough patch lately and has been a little hard to get a hold of. And of course you can try to contact him yourself.
To finish, I'll say I've also been contacting Rep. Jason Crow about this. My wife and I lived in Denver for about 8 years to help take care of our one and only granddaughter. My wife and I prefer Loveland over Denver and the granddaughter doesn't need us as much, so we are back in Loveland and one of the reasons I'm contacting you is you are now my federal rep. To give you an idea of the info I and others have been presenting to Rep. Crow and other reps, I suggest this webpage I put together: January and February 2024 visits to DC. The first part of the page concerns Tom Mueller's visit to DC, the 2nd half concerns my friends' and our visit to some of our federal reps. The second image is my friends from DC's M.I. Mother's Keeper and I talking to a couple of Rep. Crow's aides. (I'm the guy in the green coat) On the webpage you will see suggestions for improving things in kidney dialysis.
Regards,
Chris Schwab
DialysisEthics2.org
P.S. To give you an idea of my politics, I will say some days I wake up a Democrat, we all need a little help now and then. Other days I wake up an old-school Republican who believes in picking yourself up by the bootstraps, local control, and fiscal conservatism.
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