Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026

5/6 Nephrectomy Using Sharp Bipolectomy Via Midline Laparotomy in Rats
Published on: April 4, 2025
In the wake of progress--ethical problems of renal failure treated by dialysis
1Oxford Kidney Unit, Churchill Hospital. chris.winearls@orh.nhs.uk
Abstract:
The ability of dialysis in the 1960s to prolong the lives of patients with terminal renal failure created a running and changing debate in bioethics. The first issue was the selection of suitable individuals to be treated in the limited facilities available. Progress in technology was ahead of any medical or ethical consensus. The costs of treatment soon exceeded the will or means of health funders to pay, creating a system of covert rationing and fiscal fudges with which physicians reluctantly colluded. Evidence, epidemiology and public opinion eventually prevailed and the UK now provides a satisfactory, if imperfect, programme of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for most patients with end-stage renal failure who can benefit. The ethical challenges in developed countries are now different and relate to end of life decisions. In poorer countries the issues are starker as treatment has to be rationed or provided only for those who can afford it.
Related Concept Videos
Dialysis
Acute kidney injury develops suddenly and can be caused by pre-renal causes (e.g., hypovolemia, shock), intrinsic renal causes (e.g., acute tubular necrosis), or post-renal causes (e.g., urinary obstruction). In contrast, chronic renal failure progresses gradually over time and is often...
Dialysis
Hemodialysis III: Nursing Management
Acute Kidney Injury V: Interprofessional Care
Extracorporeal Removal of Drugs: Peritoneal Dialysis and Hemodialysis
Hemodialysis II: Procedure and Complications