Palliative care and withholding and withdrawing dialysis

Abstract The aging dialysis population, with its decreasing functional status, the high mortality of end‐stage renal disease (ESRD), and the rise of palliative medicine as a specialty have all served to promote the importance of end‐of‐life care for ESRD patients. Even though nephrologists have an increased understanding of the issues involved in ESRD end‐of‐life care, most individuals working in dialysis know of a case in which it felt as if “the dead were being dia‐lyzed.” An increased effort to focus on palliative care issues in ESRD, especially advance care planning, may serve to reduce the frequency of such cases.