Mama Might Be Better Off Dead Summary

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“Mama Might be Better off Dead: the Failure of Health Care in Urban America,” is a novel written by Laurie Kaye Abraham that tells the story about urban health care by following the life of a family living in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood for one year. The family is known as the Banes family. Even though this novel focused on telling the readers about urban America’s health care system, we can still learn about the values and trajectories of this family, as the author illustrates this story through one’s family narrative. An analysis of this family’s trajectory can be best determined by using the life course perspective and the conflict theory; and I will focus on the examples regarding the health care services they received, the neighborhood they live in and the roles played by each individual in the family.
Life course perspective is a theoretical perspective that consists of a set of principles that allow us to examine how the lives unfold in …show more content…
By reading this book, we can clearly see how the Banes family, which is one of the poor black families received their health care services. In general, blacks have to wait three times longer than whites to receive treatments or transplant (Abraham, 183). This happens because of their income and insurance coverage, as the medical system is based on people’s ability to pay. In addition, it is said that the doctors spend more time explaining about the diagnoses and treatment to well-educated people (Abraham, 33). Imagine if the Banes family is well educated and not from a poor family. They will definitely receive a completely different treatment. It clearly portrays that social class and race matters—it can affect the treatment received. You will get better treatment if you are from dominant class and have more money. Thus, this can create more tension in this family, as they are
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