1/ JaMarcus Crews waited for years to get a new kidney. He waited while...
Drs downplayed his kidney problems
A clinical algorithm lowered his chances bc he was Black
@DaVita staff didn’t tell him he looked like a good candidate, when he was
He waited as the coronavirus came.
Drs downplayed his kidney problems
A clinical algorithm lowered his chances bc he was Black
@DaVita staff didn’t tell him he looked like a good candidate, when he was
He waited as the coronavirus came.
2/ JaMarcus’ kidneys had failed when he was only 30 years old. He’d been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as a kid, and without money for health insurance, the condition had wrecked his kidneys.
3/ The US has one of the highest rates of kidney failure in the world.
Kidney disease affects Black and white Americans at similar rates, but Black Americans are 3-4 times more likely to develop kidney failure. JaMarcus’s story demonstrates the toll.
Kidney disease affects Black and white Americans at similar rates, but Black Americans are 3-4 times more likely to develop kidney failure. JaMarcus’s story demonstrates the toll.
4/ Every other day, JaMarcus trekked to a @DaVita dialysis clinic to sit tethered to a machine that filtered waste from his body, for more than four hours at a time. Clear tubes snaked into a dialyzer, coursing with his blood.
Let me tell you a bit about DaVita.
Let me tell you a bit about DaVita.
5/ DaVita is one of two for-profit giants in American dialysis. Together, they control 70% of the dialysis market. DaVita is responsible for supporting patients to pursue kidney transplants, which free them from dialysis. But DaVita also makes money from patients on dialysis.
6/ At every turn, DaVita failed. No one referred JaMarcus in his first 16 months on dialysis. They miscalculated his BMI for years. At one point, he became eligible for a transplant at a nearby transplant center but…
7/ No one at his clinic told him about the new standards — for five whole years.
When I asked DaVita about this, they said: “We want all patients -- regardless of their age, race, health conditions or insurance status -- to have access to transplantation"
When I asked DaVita about this, they said: “We want all patients -- regardless of their age, race, health conditions or insurance status -- to have access to transplantation"
8/ DaVita said updating patients about criteria wasn’t its responsibility.
But CMS says it is: “If the dialysis facility refers patients to multiple transplant centers, the dialysis facility should have the selection criteria for each center on file and available to patients”
But CMS says it is: “If the dialysis facility refers patients to multiple transplant centers, the dialysis facility should have the selection criteria for each center on file and available to patients”
9/ This story isn’t just about kidney failure. It’s about the “underlying conditions,” like diabetes and hypertension, that are distributed so unevenly around this country.
It’s about how our healthcare system has failed, and continues to fail, the sickest among us.
It’s about how our healthcare system has failed, and continues to fail, the sickest among us.
11/ (and for more stories like this, you can sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter: go.propublica.org/bigstory-social)
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