Mama Might Be Better Off Dead

The Failure of Health Care in Urban America

Author: Laurie Kaye Abraham
ISBN: 0226001393

Mama Might Be Better Off Dead is an unsettling, profound look at the human face of health care. Both disturbing and illuminating, it immerses readers in the lives of four generations of a poor, African-American family beset with the devastating illnesses that are all too common in America's inner-cities. The story takes place in North Lawndale, a neighborhood that lies in the shadows of Chicago's Loop. Although surrounded by some of the city's finest medical facilities, North Lawndale is one of the sickest, most medically underserved communities in the country. Headed by Jackie Banes, who oversees the care of a diabetic grandmother, a husband on kidney dialysis, an ailing father, and three children, the Banes family contends with countless medical crises. From visits to emergency rooms and dialysis units, to trials with home care, to struggles for Medicaid eligibility, Abraham chronicles their access (or lack of access) to medical care. Told sympathetically but without sentimentality

Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publish Date: 1994-11-15

Subjects: Medical / Health Care Delivery, Medical / Public Health, Political Science / Public Policy / Social Services & Welfare, Social Science / General, Social Science / Sociology / Urban

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Cross-Cultural Center (Location: Urban Studies & Class (URBN))