“There’s No Goal…Except That We Take Care of Them”: Meeting the Needs of People Whose Kidney Failure is Managed Conservatively

There have always been, and there will always be, people with kidney failure for whom dialysis is unwarranted, unwanted, or unavailable. Yet, the disease has become conflated with its most common treatment, and patients who do not want or will not benefit from dialysis have become invisible. In many settings—past and present—these individuals have been compelled to prepare for dialysis or have been discharged from nephrology care.1,2