"Save my kid" : how families of critically ill children cope, hope, and negotiate an unequal healthcare system

Gengler, Amanda M.,

"Save my kid" : how families of critically ill children cope, hope, and negotiate an unequal healthcare system Save my kid Amanda M. Gengler. - New York : New York University Press, (c)2020. - 1 online resource (241 pages)

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I: Families in Crisis. 1. Hope is a thing with feathers -- 2. Studying families of critically ill children --Part II: Unequal illnesses.3. Care-captaining: climbing the rungs of the US healthcare system -- 4. Care-entrusting: staying on the medical sidelines -- 5. Blending and switching care strategies: finding emotional equilibrium -- Part III: Tangled Up in Hope.6. When everything is not enough -- 7. The fragility and tenacity of hope -- 8. Emotionally perilous paths: illness management, emotion management, and the production of healthcare inequalities -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix A: Doing fieldwork in emotionally fraught settings: a brief reflection -- Appendix B: Family and physician demographics -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the Author.

A frank analysis of the medical and emotional inequalities that pervade the healthcare process for critically ill children Families who have a child with a life-threatening illness face a daunting road ahead of them, one that not only upends their everyday lives, but also strikes at the very heart of parenthood. In "Save My Kid," Amanda M. Gengler traces the emotional difficulties these families navigate as they confront a fundamentally unequal healthcare system in the United States. Gengler reveals the unrecognized, everyday inequalities tangled up in the process of seeking medical care, showing how different families manage their children's critical illnesses. She also uncovers the role that emotional goals-deeply rooted in the culture of illness and medicine-play in medical decision-making, healthcare interactions, and the end of children's lives. A deeply compassionate read, "Save My Kid" is an inside look at inequality in healthcare among those with the most at stake.



9781479834327


Critically ill children--Medical care--United States.
Parents of terminally ill children--Psychology.
Catastrophic illness--Social aspects--United States.
Child health services--United States.
Health services accessibility--United States.
Health services accessibility.
Children.


Electronic Books.

RJ47 / .S284 2020