EP 36: Dialysis, DaVita, Fresenius and Corruption with Author Tom Mueller - Part 2

New York Times best-selling author, Tom Mueller PhD, joins Nurses Uncorked for part two of the discussion on corruption in the Dialysis industry. His book is titled, How to Make a Killing:  Blood, Death, and Dollars in American Medicine. 

In the 1960s, dialysis in America was a miracle cure, on the cutting-edge of high-tech medicine. Dialysis represented the first time that doctors had replaced a vital organ with a machine. Dialysis became, in 1972, America’s first (and to date the only) “Medicare for All” condition, when Congress pledged to pay the dialysis treatments of virtually all Americans with kidney failure.

Since then, however, dialysis in America has degraded to 1-size-fits-all, assembly line care. Non-profit centers have been bought up by for-profit firms, eventually creating a duopoly between DaVita Dialysis and Fresenius . Harmful practices such as short, high-speed dialysis sessions (termed “bazooka dialysis” in the book), and the involuntary discharge and subsequent blackballing of dialysis patients, are widespread. Patient outcomes, mortality etc in the US are substantially worse than any other developed nation. Yet at the same time, cost of treatment has skyrocketed.

We dedicate these episodes (part 1 & 2) to those fighting chronic kidney disease; and to the brave dialysis patients, dialysis nurses, techs, and informants who continue to fight.

20% discount for Nurses Uncorked listeners: 

Code:  "killing20"  https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393866513

Books by Tom Mueller:

Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil https://a.co/d/izhYMGg

Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud https://a.co/d/bOcyn1O

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Killing-American-Medicine/dp/0393866513

Connect with Tom Mueller:

https://www.tommueller.co/

tom@tommueller.co

Twitter/X:   @tommuellerX 

LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/in/tom-mueller-026a3635 

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tom.mueller.7796 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/tbmuellerx/

 

Sources:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2813463

 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2797778 

How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine, Author Tom Mueller (Released August 1, 2023;  US Publisher: W. W. Norton)

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