FOR WANT OF A DENTIST

Prince George's Boy Dies After Bacteria From Tooth Spread to Brain

By Mary Otto
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 28, 2007; B01

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.

If his mother had been insured.

If his family had not lost its Medicaid.

If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.

If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.

By the time Deamonte'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. [MORE]

COMMENT: We must finally & utterly rid ourselves of the profits-over-people AmeriKKKornball Jerk Ethic. Enough is enough!

No wonder that even Cuba--with universal healthcare, by the way-- has a better child mortality rate than the good old stingy rotten bible-babbling theocratic neo-Confederate rightwing reactionary ridden USA!

I say, suspend the healthcare benefits of those Senators & Representatives enjoying medical coverage on the public dime while denying it to tens of millions of the very citizens whose taxes (through income &/or consumption taxes) pay for it-- until they get the message.

Old codgers dropping dead on the floors of the houses of Congress due to lack of proper healthcare would indeed be a sight to behold…