Holding, Reynolds,

Too Young to Die: Flawed System. Reynolds Holding and Erin McCormick. - San Francisco Chronicle, 2004. - SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Article 61, Family, 1522-3213; .

Articles Contained in SIRS Enduring Issues 2006. Originally Published: Too Young to Die: Flawed System, Oct. 6, 2004; pp. n.p..

"Hundreds of infants die every year in California because of breakdowns in a statewide system that requires the transfer of high-risk newborns and pregnant women to qualified specialists and intensive care units....The system, a hybrid of state regulation and medical standards, is undermined by competition in the state's multibillion-dollar business of saving babies, say doctors and health care economists. It is a business so lucrative that in recent years scores of California hospitals have opened $2,000-a-day neonatal intensive care units, which vary widely in quality." (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) This article examines the high infant mortality rate in California and stresses that "many health care experts blame poorly executed policies that seek medical solutions to a largely social problem. While trying to provide intensive care units for infants and pregnancy care for women, they say, health care leaders all but ignore powerful evidence that pollution and the stress of inner-city life could doom a newborn child."

1522-3213;


Hospitals
Infants--Mortality
Infants (Premature)
Medical care--Cost of
Medical technology
Neonatal intensive care
Prenatal care


California

AC1.S5

050