Mama Might Be Better Off Dead

"A provocative examination of our health care delivery for the poor. . . . Such an honest and candid account is essential." —Alex Kotlowitz, national bestselling author of There Are No Children Here

Mama Might Be Better Off Dead immerses readers in the lives of four generations of a poor, African-American family from North Lawndale, Chicago, 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 lack thereof—to medical care. Their story reveals an inadequate health care system that is further undermined by the effects of poverty.


Mama Might Be Better Off Dead is an unsettling, profound look at the human face of health care in America. 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.



"Goes to the heart of today's problem. Powerful . . . deeply searching." —Washington Post


"A powerful indictment of the big business of medicine." —Los Angeles Times


"Abraham . . . illuminates the problems with passion and skill." —Kirkus Reviews


"This personally observed, lucid chronicle and call for reform of our ailing health system covers all levels of responsibility in the medical establishment." —Publishers Weekly


"Clearly identifies in human and policy terms how [healthcare] programs have failed a population desperately in need of help." —Library Journal