kidney machine

noun

1. artificial kidney.

kidney machine

noun

1. another name for artificial kidney See haemodialysis

Word History and Origins

Origin of kidney machine¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

“They are moral problems, value problems. Who should get the kidney machine, the 25-year-old mother or the 62-year-old senator?”

From New York Times

“Howlin’ Wolf almost died on stage, plugged into his kidney machine, so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t go exactly the same way,” Wood says.

From The Guardian

Scholars trace the unusual program, now costing $40 billion a year, to a 1962 Life magazine article titled “They Decide Who Lives, Who Dies,” about laymen at a Seattle hospital who judged which patients would get scarce treatment on the first “artificial kidney machine.”

From New York Times

Eady's parents were so determined to get their son into the Seattle kidney center that they struck a deal with Scribner, the doctor in charge: "I'd get treated here, learn about the kidney machine, and go up to Canada to be a machine technician," Eady said.

From Seattle Times

Faced with the prospect of imminent death�or dismal years on a kidney machine�he agreed to what was then still a highly experimental treatment: replacement of his dying kidneys with one donated by his twin brother.

From Time Magazine Archive