Shouldn’t Every Life Have Value on the South Side of Chicago?

Mike & Friends Blog

Donna Smith

Donna Smith, American SiCKO, is executive director of the Health Care for All Colorado Foundation

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January 29th, 2013 2:55 PM

Shouldn’t Every Life Have Value on the South Side of Chicago?

Does the University of Chicago believe every life that can be saved should be saved during the Golden Hour of emergency trauma care? Or is trauma care to be reserved for those with enough cash and enough insurance coverage or only those who live in the right neighborhoods?

Many young people on the south side of Chicago believe that should they need it, trauma care needs to be available to them at the new, $700 million University of Chicago Medical Center. The University does not agree, and the trauma center that could save valuable minutes and valuable lives has been closed to those over 16 years of age never to be reopened.

From the article:

“Protesters marched into the University of Chicago’s new $700-million hospital unannounced on Sunday, shouting and holding handmade signs demanding an adult trauma care center for the city’s South Side.

“Ultimately, four people were arrested at the scene, including a 17-year-old student at King College Prep High School.

“The protesters staged the sit-in to call attention to the fact that the South Side has no trauma care centers that can treat adults for injuries sustained in shootings, stabbings, car accidents and other traumatic incidents.”

Under the University’s trauma center policies currently in place, that 17-year-old who was arrested for protesting would not receive trauma care even if it was needed.

Nineteen-year-old Damian Turner was killed by gunfire in 2010, the unintended victim of a stray gunfire just three-and-a-half blocks from the University of Chicago Medical Center. Protestors and many others in the community believe Turner might have been saved if trauma care had been available.

We’ll never know. And until we make some sort of dent in the gun violence ripping through our neighborhoods, there will be more Damian Turners and more reason to need trauma care for all. While I know that a Medicare for all for life system would answer the access issues related to payment and coverage barriers, our health care delivery system certainly needs attention so it reflects the values that hold each life as a treasure and one worth saving.