ored out of the calculations, the 2-year survival for LRD patients may be as high as 96%. Thus, LRD transplantation ranks as the treatment of choice for most ESRD patients (Johnson et al., 1983, pp. 302-303). The medical aspects associated with these rates include such things as the specific organ available, the harvesting procedures employed, and the choice of immunosuppressive regimen.
Numerous factors also determine hemodialysis morbidity and mortality. Maintenance hemodialysis has been recognized since 1961 as a means by which ESRD patients may be kept alive indefinitely. The federal end-stage renal disease program is more than 20 years old. In fact, Medicare currently covers almost all aspects of dialysis patient care (Paganini, 1992, p. 12). By 1990, over 200,000 patients were being treated for ESRD. The 1-year mortality rate in the United States throughout much of the 1980s was around 25%. In 1990, however, the rate was down to 21.2%. Various studies have additionally reported that 5-year dialysis patient survival rates are between ab
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