万花筒 Kaleidoscope2007-03-07&08, 牙齿发炎后死亡

On February 24, Alyce Driver got a call from her hospitalized 12-year-old son Deamonte.

"His last words to me was Mom, make sure you pray before you go to bed."

Deamonte died hours later, his mother says a victim of a system that makes it difficult for the indigent¹ to get dental care, infection in an untreated tooth have spreaded to his brain.

The bureaucracy involved in treating medicated patients is so extreme that a lot of doctors just decide not to treat any medicated patients at all.

"All you got to do was to say what kind of, what kind of insurance you've got, no, we don't take that, simply as that."

We must learn from this appalling² failure of our broken healthcare system, and we must fix it.

Within days of Deamonte's death, Congress was considering legislation providing 40 million dollars in dental services to the poor. The state legislature in Annapolis is also considering additional funding to make dental care more accessible to indigent children.

It's an epidemic³ disease and it is preventable, and, and we know how to prevent it if we can just get those kids in the office.

Ray Rawson says days that have trimmed -medicated red tape see more dentists accepting the insurance and more patients using it.

This was not necessary and it can be fixed⁴.

Lawyer Laurie Norris of Maryland Public Justice Center hopes Deamonte's death leads to more dental hygiene⁵ programs in schools, more pediatricians doing dental screening and more efficient government programs to provide dental care to the poor. Deamonte's mother says simply.

No one else should have to go through this.

Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Catonsville, Maryland.

1 indigent   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的

参考例句：

• The town government is responsible for assistance to indigent people.镇政府负责给穷人提供帮助。
• A judge normally appoints the attorney for an indigent defendant at the defendant's first court appearence.法官通常会在贫穷被告人第一次出庭时，为其指派一名辩护律师。

2 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。