Newborn dies every 43 hours?!?

[Dredly]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=5627305&page=1

its a long read but intrestingish... basically claiming the infant mortality rate is due to the mothers being black and poor.

some highlights:

(race card)

Dr. Sheldon Korones, founder of the neonatal unit, had a successful practice in 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in Memphis. The young pediatrician began campaigning for a state-of-the-art newborn center at the public hospital in the heart of Memphis' inner city to help black babies who were born poor.

"I was angry. I'm still angry," he said. "The situation hasn't changed much at all. Wherever there is a high concentration of Afro-Americans -- Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, New Orleans, you name it -- there is a higher infant mortality rate. So is it a racial issue? It seems to be preponderant among black babies, this proclivity to death."

(welfare card)

"People who are poor in my experience don't have that same feeling of entitlement to quality housing, to buses that run near where they live, to a grocery store that even has produce that you would want to eat," she added. "And all these things compound upon each other to create a cycle and a system of poverty that seems, it can seem inescapable."

Buying birth control and visiting health care clinics isn't easy when you're without insurance, and you don't own a car. And many of these young mothers are raising babies alone. Nearly 65 percent of black children nationwide grow up with only one parent according to the 2006 U.S. Census American Community Survey.

(environment card)

"The inner city is like the most stressful place, I think. The crime rate is too high. You see too much things goes on in the neighborhood," said Simpson. "Stress plays a major role in pregnancy. If you're stressed out a lot, you can easily have a miscarriage. I know several people who have lost their child due to a miscarriage. My friend Tonya, she lost her child, like a couple of weeks ago she lost her child."

(bad parent card)

Simpson hasn't spoken to her father since the day she told him she was pregnant.

"I try not to let it get to me so much, but it's not a day go by that I don't think about where he's at and why would he walk out on me now. You know, this is a big time when you need your father the most to help support you," Simpson said.

"The young women are so hungry for attention," Drumwright said, "and if that's the way they can get it, then that's the way they can get it. Because I do believe a lot of the relationships are very casual, first date, second date.

(combine the race and the welfare card)

"I've been going to meetings about this with just chest-beating and programs and so on," Korones said. "But what we need to realize, and I think that we finally do, you're looking at infant mortality as a manifestation of the accumulated social inadequacies that we have tolerated historically. And we happen to be tackling infant mortality.

"There is so much else in that picture, ranging all the way from the proper lifestyle and diet, to the proper education and life itself," he added. "If you're on welfare, and you don't know where your next meal is coming from, and you have to walk wherever it is because you can't buy the gas or whatever those things are, your chances of having a healthy baby are diminished. In this community, when a premature baby is born, society has failed."

(no job card)

Unemployment is rising in Memphis, and so is the teen birth rate.

It's often said that the best social program is a good job: Studies show that teenagers with jobs are happier and less likely to allow themselves to become pregnant.

When the city offered a summer work program, it got six times as many applications as it had jobs. So it held a lottery.

(race card again to sum it up)

"I sent out an APB [all points bulletin] across the city: 'Please help me, we need maternity clothes,' she said. "I had one donation of maternity clothes. I had trouble getting Pampers, so imagine trying to get $60,000, $70,000, a $100,000 grant."

But Simpson said people care less about Memphis' inner-city children because the babies at risk are black.

[Philbert]

Can you point out any part of that article that was factually wrong? Or are you just playing the (red herring card)?

[Dredly]

Can you point out any part of that article that was factually wrong? Or are you just playing the (red herring card)?

you mean can i point to the part that says your baby will die if you are black and poor? I'm thinking the 2,000+ that survived this year may indicate that it isn't a black / poor thing but a drug / STD thing.

The "poor" excuse doesn't work, gov't provides health care for everyone under a certain income bracket, plus ER's can't turn people away so there is no excuse, the only remaining excuse is transportation... which doesn't work well either unless the person is paralyzed.

There are millions of black, white yellow... babies born every year that are perfectly healthy to people all over the income scale from almost in the gutter poor to living in mansions rich.

Memphis is pretty much ghetto at this point (ie: housing projects and HUD). Crime rates are through the roof, they are the second worse city for crime, they are in the top 5 for most dangerous in the country, their school system sucks, their graduating people that can't read, Drug abuse is rampant... etc

and they pick a single person to write a story about who is a 17 year old high school grad who is sponsored by a loving white woman from the suburbus, as if she is the stero typical person giving birth? Memphis has a grad rate of around 42%, the rate drops down to close to 39% for African Americans, so right there she is in the significant minority, also no mention of drug use so that drops her down even further but the whole time drug use is never mentioned once.

STD is mentioned briefly and only once, however Memphis is in the top 10 for almost all STD's...

SO instead of focusing on drugs, STD's, multiple partner random sex, and complete lack of caring by the mother, they focused on race and income as the reasons for these babies dying.

I can site the sources of my info if you need them

[Philbert]

you mean can i point to the part that says your baby will die if you are black and poor? I'm thinking the 2,000+ that survived this year may indicate that it isn't a black / poor thing but a drug / STD thing.

So it IS the red herring card. Nobody said that your baby will die, only that it is more likely.

The "poor" excuse doesn't work, gov't provides health care for everyone under a certain income bracket, plus ER's can't turn people away so there is no excuse, the only remaining excuse is transportation... which doesn't work well either unless the person is paralyzed.

The government programs help only the very worst off. ER treatment is not adequate. As well as being a big waste of our resources (everything costs more when done emergently) by the time you need the ER you are already in trouble. To bring the death rates down we need to care for babies before they're in immediate jeopardy. In any case, healthcare is only part of the problem. More generally, the social situation in poor areas is not conducive to producing healthy babies.

There are millions of black, white yellow... babies born every year that are perfectly healthy to people all over the income scale from almost in the gutter poor to living in mansions rich.

Red herring card again. There are healthy babies born everywhere. A small fraction of babies in rich areas will die. A larger fraction of babies from poor areas will die. That was the point of the article.

Memphis is pretty much ghetto at this point (ie: housing projects and HUD). Crime rates are through the roof, they are the second worse city for crime, they are in the top 5 for most dangerous in the country, their school system sucks, their graduating people that can't read, Drug abuse is rampant... etc

and they pick a single person to write a story about who is a 17 year old high school grad who is sponsored by a loving white woman from the suburbus, as if she is the stero typical person giving birth? Memphis has a grad rate of around 42%, the rate drops down to close to 39% for African Americans, so right there she is in the significant minority, also no mention of drug use so that drops her down even further but the whole time drug use is never mentioned once.

STD is mentioned briefly and only once, however Memphis is in the top 10 for almost all STD's...

SO instead of focusing on drugs, STD's, multiple partner random sex, and complete lack of caring by the mother, they focused on race and income as the reasons for these babies dying.

I can site the sources of my info if you need them

I don't see where they say that she is typical. In fact I think that's the point, she's getting help, thanks to the charity workers, that others are not. As a result she has a healthy baby and a high school diploma. If she was typical, there would be no problem and hence no article!

I grant you that the reporter should have also discussed the impact of drug use and STIs, since they undoubtedly contribute to the problem. You have a good point there. But you can't ignore the effects of poverty, bad education, dangerous city life, and lack of access to contraception and healthcare in general. Indeed, poor people are more likely to take drugs, and to get STIs.

Race is a factor only insofar as it predisposes people to be poor. I don't want to start a race flamewar but I think I should be able to safely say that black people in Tennessee might not have been treated equally over the years.

More generally, not talking about you now, it really ticks me off that many who fight tooth and nail to remove the right to abortion are nowhere to be found when it comes to reducing the overall infant mortality rate and especially working to resolve the appalling inequalities in the mortality rates. We can argue all night about the causes but the fact remains that some babies in the USA have a way lower chance of living to see their first birthday than others. And for anyone who calls themselves "pro life", this should be totally unacceptable.

The US infant mortality rate is 6.3 / 1000. The EU average is 5.84. France is 3.36. We're getting owned by France!

[BlownNitroPontiac]

The black community is out of control and in a downward spiral.

The problem:

A lack of father figures.

75% out-of-wedlock birthrate.

51% high school dropout rate.

The rest of the black community's problems are directly attributable to the sexual and marital irresponsibility of black males.

[Dredly]

The black community is out of control and in a downward spiral.

The problem:

A lack of father figures.

75% out-of-wedlock birthrate.

51% high school dropout rate.

The rest of the black community's problems are directly attributable to the sexual and marital irresponsibility of black males.

you forgot to mention that the #1 cause of death in black males age 15 - 25 is homicide

Black males make up over 35% of the prison population, while making up less then 13% of the population of the US.

Black males are primarily responsible for the "Hip Hop" and "Thug Lifestyle" cultures and their "Fuck the police" mentality

Black males are the number one demographic to be in a gang, followed by Hispanic males

[Mondain]

The "poor" excuse doesn't work, gov't provides health care for everyone under a certain income bracket

Here in PA you have to work a minimum 100 hours a month and make less than $450 a month before you're eligible for healthcare.

[Dredly]

Here in PA you have to work a minimum 100 hours a month and make less than $450 a month before you're eligible for healthcare.

You have a source for that as its not possible to work 100 hours a month and make less then 450.00 unless you are a waiter /waitress. Federal minimum wage is around 7.00 an hour now

I also know for a fact that you CAN get aid at much more then that as my brother and his baby momma receive WIC and Medicaid as well as food stamps because they aren't married and both are below the "poverty" line individually. Their entire child birth and all visits were paid for, if they had to pay anything it was a token amount like 10.00 / visit but if they didn't pay it nothing happened.

[BlownNitroPontiac]

you forgot to mention that the #1 cause of death in black males age 15 - 25 is homicide

Black males make up over 35% of the prison population, while making up less then 13% of the population of the US.

Black males are primarily responsible for the "Hip Hop" and "Thug Lifestyle" cultures and their "Fuck the police" mentality

Black males are the number one demographic to be in a gang, followed by Hispanic males

That all goes back to the absence, in the urban black community, of a father figure.