{"product_id":"mama-might-be-better-off-dead-the-failure-of-health-care-in-urban-america-9780226623702","title":"Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America","description":"North Lawndale, a neighborhood that lies in the shadows of Chicago's Loop, is surrounded by some of the city's finest medical facilities, Yet, it is one of the sickest, most medically underserved communities in the country. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eMama Might Be Better Off Dead\u003c\/i\u003e immerses readers in the lives of four generations of a poor, African-American family in the neighborhood, who are beset with the devastating illnesses that are all too common in America's inner-cities. 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, Laurie Kaye Abraham chronicles their access-or more often, lack thereof-to medical care. Told sympathetically but without sentimentality, their story reveals an inadequate health care system that is further undermined by the direct and indirect effects of poverty. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Both disturbing and illuminating, \u003ci\u003eMama Might Be Better Off Dead\u003c\/i\u003e is an unsettling, profound look at the human face of health care in America. Published to great acclaim in 1993, the book in this new edition includes an incisive foreword by David Ansell, a physician who worked at Mt. Sinai Hospital, where much of the Banes family's narrative unfolds. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLaurie Kaye Abraham \u003c\/b\u003eis a freelance writer and senior editor of \u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50503133790482,"sku":"9780226623702","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_53c4e9cb-fc34-4d7a-841e-02dc2a65e70b.jpg?v=1730783588","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/mama-might-be-better-off-dead-the-failure-of-health-care-in-urban-america-9780226623702","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}