Makes Me Want To Holla

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.

The State Of . . . just makes me want to cry! There is abject poverty in this country ya’ll. Make no mistake. J and I talked recently about what it says about this country when such things happen. The poor are in a bad state. Things can get worse or they can get better. Which is it?