What Scribner Wrought: How the Invention of Modern Dialysis Shaped Health Law and Policy

29 Pages Posted: 5 Mar 2011

See all articles by Sallie Thieme Sanford

Sallie Thieme Sanford

University of Washington - School of Law; University of Washington - School of Public Health

Date Written: April 2010

Abstract

In March 1960, Clyde Shields, a machinist dying from incurable kidney disease, was connected to an "artificial kidney" by means of a U-shaped Teflon tube that came to be known as the Scribner shunt. By facilitating long-term dialysis, Dr. Belding Scriber’s invention changed chronic kidney failure from a fatal illness to a treatable condition. This medical advance has, in turn, had a profound impact on key areas of health law and policy.

This paper focuses on the historical roots and current context of three interrelated areas: ethical allocation of scarce medical resources; public financing of expensive health care; and decisions to stop treatment for non-medically indicated reasons.

Keywords: Dialysis, God Committee, Medicare, Medical Technology, Health Reform, Ethics, Bioethics, Abandonment, Health Policy

Suggested Citation

Sanford, Sallie Thieme, What Scribner Wrought: How the Invention of Modern Dialysis Shaped Health Law and Policy (April 2010). Richmond Journal of Law and Public Interest, Vol. 13, p. 337, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1775066

Sallie Thieme Sanford (Contact Author)

University of Washington - School of Law ( email )

William H. Gates Hall
Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98105-3020
United States

HOME PAGE: https://www.law.washington.edu/directory/profile.aspx?ID=261

University of Washington - School of Public Health

Seattle, WA
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
159
Abstract Views
1,773
Rank
336,214
PlumX Metrics