This work presents general rules for qualifying patients with end-stage renal failure in the course of diabetic nephropathy for renal replacement therapy by haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Both medical and social considerations conditioning the choice of the dialytic therapy and the most frequent problems characteristic of each method were discussed in the paper. Much attention was focused on the psychological aspect of accepting the disease and the possibilities of emotional disorder in a patient and on the social aspect defining interpersonal relations within patient's family and environment.