Can a blind person self dialyze?

There is a story out of England reporting an inquest into the death of a legally blind individual who was self dialyzing at home, Dialysis patient died after machine accident:

A 30-YEAR-OLD partially-sighted student died when she accidentally detached herself from her dialysis machine.

Kirsty Wakenshaw was found by her mum at her home in Charlton Road, Weston, in February last year.

This week an inquest was held into the death of the diabetic, who was also registered blind.

I saw this on Angie's news thread (Registration Required). Angie's post was of a Dialysis and Transplant City post by Dialysis Joe who had this commentary:

Having a blind patient self dialyzing on home hemodialysis is amazingly careless.  Clearly, a blind person can dialyze at home, but must have a care giver to administer and monitor the dialysis treatment.  Leaving a blind person, alone, on home hemodialysis is paramount to sitting them in the middle of a road, hoping that they don't get run over.  The medical and nursing professionals charged with oversight of this situation failed miserably.

I disagree.

People with or without vision impairments should not be forced to give up their adult sense of self when they are diagnosed with kidney failure. If she believed she could dialyze at home, and her doctor believed she could dialyze at home, then she should be supported in that decision in life and in death. I applaud her provider for supporting her. Obviously this is a tragic outcome but it was her decision. From the article she is described as "a very independent person" and as such she picked a form of dialysis that would best maintain her independence.

The decision on how to manage kidney failure should be left up to the person with the disease in consultation with their doctor. The decision is theirs even when the person is partially sighted.

Comments

[Angie]

Wow this topic is being discussed in so many places now! I had to come back since Dialysis Joe quoted you on DTC (Dialysis and Transplant City) ;)

[Joanne Wakenshaw]

As the sister to Kirsty, the 30 year old you speak of, I can say for the record she was partially sighted, not blind. Her death we know was down to her fainting whilst coming off the machine. It was an accident. And Dialysis Joe should understand that any analogies on this matter are, at the very least insensitive.

Im only glad my mother is not computer-savy enough to find such a comment.

Should anyone who has ever had low blood pressure be prevented from doing home dialysis?

I am greatful to you for disagreement of this post. Anyone who has to deal with this huge invasion on their life should be allowed as much freedom as the can get from this awful affliction.

Her death left a huge void in all our lives. She was much loved and will never be far from our thoughts.

Dialysis Joe, please remember in your sweeping generalisations, you are not a doctor, you do not know all the details of this case and your comments were careless and offensive.