Mama Might Be Better Off Dead: The Failure of Health Care in Urban America

Robert Banes sits in a patient room at the University of Illinois Medical Center, west of Chicago’s Loop. His chronic kidney failure, the result of glomerulosclerosis, requires dialysis treatment multiple times a week in order for him to survive. Even so, in the past week or so, there has consistently been blood in his urine, and doctors are concerned that he might require surgery. After a passing interaction with a nurse, during which he reveals that he has not had anything to eat for dinner, Robert’s wife Jackie arrives for their visit. Jackie brings a light meal for Robert, including a slice of cake from their youngest daughter, Brianna’s, first birthday party. Robert was forced to miss the celebrations due to his hospitalization. Jackie hopes that Robert will be able to stay at the hospital over the weekend, since his temporary absence gives her more bandwidth to take care of the other family members, including her ailing grandmother, Cora.

After visiting Robert in the hospital, Jackie rides the bus home to the family’s apartment in North Lawndale, one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. The year is 1989, and Abraham uses Jackie’s bus route along Ogden Avenue as a vehicle for describing the state of the city at that particular moment.