"Save My Kid"
Amanda M. Gengler
Abstract
In <italic>“Save My Kid,”</italic> sociologist Amanda Gengler examines how families of critically ill children navigate the US healthcare system. Not all families are equipped with resources for critically ill kids, but the toolkits that are available to them shape their approach to seeking care and negotiating the treatment process, as well as their ability to maintain some degree of emotional stability in the midst of profound distress. <italic>”Save My Kid”</italic> uncovers the powerful role emotional goals—deeply rooted in the emotional culture around illness and medicine in the United States—can play in driving medical decisions, healthcare interactions, and the end of children’s lives if and when they come. This book draws out the often unrecognized, everyday inequalities that unfold throughout the illness experience while shedding important light on the emotional foundations on which they rest.