My Son Died from Kidney Disease but it was Schizophrenia that Killed Him
Why people with schizophrenia often refuse treatment and medication
My son, Derek, died on January 22, 2017 from kidney disease but it was schizophrenia that killed him.
Just two days past his 32nd birthday, he passed away because he could not take his kidney disease seriously. He was diagnosed with kidney disease ten months prior and had been living with schizophrenia for many years.
He first heard voices when he was 18 years old. During that year, he told me about delusions of bugs crawling up the wall. He told me of his grandfather’s plot to poison him. He didn’t believe me when I told him these things weren’t true. I took him to doctors, started him on medication and did everything I could to support him.
It didn’t work.
The next five or so years were touch and go.
He attempted suicide more times than I can count. He was in and out of psychiatric hospitals and drifted from place to place. He lived in a series of places: my house, his father’s house, both sets of grandparents, a friend’s house and had several apartments. He left each one because he…
