kidney failure

Heat can be deadly, as this sign in Death Valley National Park warns. Some of the hottest temperatures in the world have been recorded here. But it doesn't need to be 130 degrees out to be dangerous. David McNew/Getty Images hide caption

Ambulances arrive at a hospital in New York City, where concerns are rising about the supply of dialysis equipment for ICU patients. John Minchillo/AP hide caption

Laborers in the sugar cane fields of Central America are experiencing a rapid and unexplained form of kidney failure. Above: Harvesting sugar cane in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

Sovereign Valentine and his wife, Jessica, wait as a dialysis machine filters his blood. Before finding a dialysis clinic in their insurance network, the Valentines were charged more than a half-million dollars for 14 weeks of treatment. Tommy Martino/Kaiser Health News hide caption

In most states, undocumented immigrants with kidney failure have to receive dialysis as an emergency treatment in hospital emergency rooms. Some advocates say kidney transplants for undocumented immigrants would be a cheaper way to treat the problem. JazzIRT/Getty Images hide caption

William Scott (right) and his wife, Teresa, arrived at DaVita Med Center Dialysis in Houston on Tuesday morning, after missing William's appointment on Monday. "It's just good he got in here," she says. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

Image of a mini-kidney formed in a dish from human induced pluripotent stem cells. Minoru Takasato/Nature hide caption