Abraham in Mama Might Be Better Off Dead humanizes the inequalities in quality and health care access that exists between the rich and the poor, through the stories of the Banes family, Mrs. Jackson, and Tommy. Abraham exposes the flaws in our healthcare system; through the experiences of one Chicago family we can see that it all comes down to money equals health. With that in mind, the book paints a ground up picture of how the health care fails to take care of those in most need. Abraham’s central message is “Not only do the poor get sicker but the sicker get poor” (39). With the statement above, Abraham is talking about the vicious cycle that the poor have to live with. Abraham is describing those individuals that fall between the cracks
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In general, there is a huge gap between the quality care among classes. In the case of the poor, their poverty constrains them to inadequate health care, and as a result are more likely to become sicker. With a similar idea when the poor are sick, seeking medical attention only produces more poverty, it is the high medical bills that keep those at the bottom at the bottom like in the case for Robert Banes. Mr. Banes due to his low-paying, temporary jobs, had no access to medical insurance, and as a result his health suffered for not seeking help on time. Nonetheless, it was his poverty that constrained him from seeking care, and as a result his kidneys suffered the consequences. Through the experience of Robert, Abraham reiterates the concept that the poor not only get sicker, but …show more content…
Timmermans and Buchbinder (2010) draw on the in-depth interviews and their observations of a genetic clinic to analysis how parents and clinical staff work around uncertain newborn screenings. The authors state, “the objective of newborn screening is to identify newborns with rare genetic conditions before symptoms develop, in order to intervene early in life”(408-09). Nonetheless, based on a review of related literature, they focus on “patients-in-waiting,” or those patients that are living between sickness and health. Therefore, these patients are defined by uncertainty, it is this category that causes parents to readjust their lives and take into account the possibility that something might be wrong with their babies. The authors states, “Taking the possibility of disease seriously can have far-reaching consequences for the parent’ own lives: postponing a return to work or a move to a less well-medically served area, sticking with a job because of health insurance, changing social activities and prioritizing life” (416). With this idea in mind they use the experiences of two families who did not take the conditions of their babies as serious, however there was language barriers, structural and cultural factors that contribute to the ways different families
In general, there is a huge gap between the quality care among classes. In the case of the poor, their poverty constrains them to inadequate health care, and as a result are more likely to become sicker. With a similar idea when the poor are sick, seeking medical attention only produces more poverty, it is the high medical bills that keep those at the bottom at the bottom like in the case for Robert Banes. Mr. Banes due to his low-paying, temporary jobs, had no access to medical insurance, and as a result his health suffered for not seeking help on time. Nonetheless, it was his poverty that constrained him from seeking care, and as a result his kidneys suffered the consequences. Through the experience of Robert, Abraham reiterates the concept that the poor not only get sicker, but …show more content…
Timmermans and Buchbinder (2010) draw on the in-depth interviews and their observations of a genetic clinic to analysis how parents and clinical staff work around uncertain newborn screenings. The authors state, “the objective of newborn screening is to identify newborns with rare genetic conditions before symptoms develop, in order to intervene early in life”(408-09). Nonetheless, based on a review of related literature, they focus on “patients-in-waiting,” or those patients that are living between sickness and health. Therefore, these patients are defined by uncertainty, it is this category that causes parents to readjust their lives and take into account the possibility that something might be wrong with their babies. The authors states, “Taking the possibility of disease seriously can have far-reaching consequences for the parent’ own lives: postponing a return to work or a move to a less well-medically served area, sticking with a job because of health insurance, changing social activities and prioritizing life” (416). With this idea in mind they use the experiences of two families who did not take the conditions of their babies as serious, however there was language barriers, structural and cultural factors that contribute to the ways different families