HEALTH, death by poverty; dental care

I used to like in Prince George's County, Maryland. In many ways it's like Proviso Township. It's Black and suburban. One can point to indicators that there is wealth, but there is also suburban poverty.

At Daily Kos nyceve wrote Near nation's capital, an uninsured child dies of a toothache based on For Want of a Dentist
Pr. George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain Washington Post (Mary Otto).

By the time [Deamonte Driver's] own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.

Deamonte's death and the ultimate cost of his care, which could total more than $250,000, underscore an often-overlooked concern in the debate over universal health coverage: dental care.

Aside from the moral issue of allowing human beings to die for being Black and poor there's a local angle to this story.

One of the things Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wanted to cut completely from the Cook County budget was dental care. Todd Stroger didn't kill Deamonte Driver, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The chief thing that saved Deamonte Driver from being killed by Stroger was that he lived in PG County, not Proviso Township.