KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL™ Bill of Rights

We, the undersigned, believe in a future where optimal kidney health is attainable for ALL patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual identity, geographic location, and socio-economic status. To uphold this principle, we urge policymakers to advance policy initiatives that reflect the following Kidney Equity for KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL™ Bill of Rights:

1. Right to be treated fairly and with respect: A patient’s dignity must be upheld and honored in every circumstance or occasion.
2. Right to Patient-Centered Care: Policies should prioritize patient preferences, values, and goals in kidney disease management and treatment decisions, including the decision to refuse treatment.
3. Right to a Timely Kidney Disease Diagnosis: All individuals must have timely access to kidney disease screening and evaluation.
4. Right to Accessible Treatment: All individuals must have access to affordable and quality treatment options for kidney disease, especially novel pharmaceutical treatments that promise to be highly effective in slowing the progression of kidney disease and reducing risk for related cardiovascular complications.
5. Right to Whole Person Care: All individuals with kidney disease must have access to care that addresses the continuum of needs, including mental health services, symptom management, and care that helps patients enjoy good quality of life.
6. Right to Choose Kidney Failure Treatment Options: Individuals with kidney failure must be educated about, evaluated for, and where clinically appropriate, assured access to all kidney failure treatment options, including conservative care, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis, in-center hemodialysis, pre-emptive transplant, living donor transplant, and deceased donor transplant.  Patients should be fully supported in accessing clinically appropriate treatment modalities.
7. Right to Equitable Access to Transplant: Systematic barriers that exacerbate racial, ethnic, and geographic inequities in transplant must be removed. All stakeholders in the organ transplant system must measure, report, and institute changes that assure equitable access to transplant.
8. Right to Assistance for Basic Needs: Individuals with kidney disease who are socioeconomically disadvantaged must have access to supports and services that help manage their kidney disease, including healthy and nutritious meals, adequate housing, transportation support, interpreter services, and other social services.

By signing this petition, we stand in solidarity with individuals affected by kidney disease and advocating for equitable kidney care for all. Together, let us urge policymakers to prioritize kidney health and enact the KIDNEY EQUITY FOR ALL™ Bill of Rights, ensuring that no one is left behind in the fight for kidney equity.