Dialysis patients face rationing, delayed care after Helene wrecks medical supply plant

By Ariel Wittenberg | 10/16/2024 06:20 AM EDT

The hurricane devastated a North Carolina facility that produces peritoneal dialysis fluid, which is used by about 80,000 patients nationally.

A peritoneal dialysis patient prepares herself for her daily treatment on Sept. 27, 2021.

A peritoneal dialysis patient prepares herself for her daily treatment on Sept. 27, 2021. Oscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images

Doctors are being forced to change treatment plans for American patients in kidney failure — and some patients are being blocked from starting dialysis — three weeks after Hurricane Helene severely damaged a medical supply manufacturer in Marion, North Carolina.

The plant, owned by Baxter International, manufactures roughly half the nation’s supply of what’s called peritoneal dialysis fluid, a critical component of a treatment used by about 80,000 kidney failure patients nationally.

Baxter International is one of just two companies in the United States that produces peritoneal dialysis fluid. The other company, Fresenius Medical Care, owns dialysis centers and exclusively supplies its own patients.

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Because of the storm damage to the Baxter facility, the Food and Drug Administration over the weekend declared an official shortage of three types of fluids manufactured by the plant, including peritoneal dialysis solution.

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