[Voluntary discontinuation of dialysis treatment by chronic dialysis patients]

Voluntary discontinuation of chronic dialysis treatment accounted for 8% of the mortality in a chronic dialysis population (n = 167) between 1979 and 1989. Mean age of these 13 patients was 54 years and the time on dialysis 105 months. All of them were mentally competent at the time the decision was made. Ten patients took the decision entirely on their own; only 5 of the patients were living at home with their partners. Severe somatic comorbidity was found in all 13 patients, but in 5 of them no acute event could be identified. In 3 patients psychiatric pathology was present; they were significantly younger and the duration of dialysis therapy was shorter than in the other 10 patients. The results of this investigation are compared with findings from the literature.