Structural Bias in the Completeness of Death Investigations for Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUIDs)

https://journals.lww.com/jphmp/abstract/2024/03000/structural_bias_in_the_completeness_of_death.19.aspx?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--CWv7bAucQ_83z44qd5fzmJ88e5UJbWwQ2SkxTWWIk9bMys3mRJyhrTAUA-VYZ4qWo6DxsX95jcokthFcZlhGhUa1MZQ&_hsmi=315250855&utm_content=315250855&utm_source=hs_email Incomplete investigations of infant deaths stymie prevention efforts There’s no adequate way to describe the anguish of losing a child to sudden unexpected infant death. Afterward, a parent’s suffering is too often multiplied by bureaucracy and “paperwork thickened with accusation,” as STAT’s Eric Boodman wrote in a moving story about that tortured process. A study published this week shines a light on another troubling aspect of the aftermath of these deaths: Almost a quarter of all investigations into sudden unexpected infant deaths are left incomplete, especially in rural areas and for Indigenous families. “Incomplete” doesn’t refer to anything as minor as a missing signature, but means that there was either no autopsy, no scene investigation, or that there was missing information about where and how a body was found. Complete investigations are necessary to “produce equitable public health surveillance data used in prevention efforts,” the authors note. Researchers analyzed almost 4,000 investigations in a national death registry from 2015 to 2018. The deaths of babies in rural areas were more than 1.5 times more likely to have an incomplete investigation compared to urban areas. Investigations led by law enforcement, rather than a medical examiner, were also more likely to be left incomplete. The problems compounded for American Indian/Alaska Native populations, who were the racial group most likely to be left with incomplete investigations — and whose infant deaths were more likely to occur in rural places and to be investigated by law enforcement. Their baby died during his nap. Then medical bureaucrats deepened the parents’ anguish Eric Boodman By Eric Boodman March 27, 2019 Photos by Alissa Ambrose Motion graphics by Hyacinth Empinado https://www.statnews.com/2019/03/27/sids-medical-bureaucrats-deepened-parents-anguish/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--AEVpV-eKXl2Xtx1h1-FS137NNYooW4tOqt6as2w6NMMQkufm--UMKgaNNph9bISJuCwQMwoupTSxQhIz05_TkEBoueQ&_hsmi=315250855&utm_content=315250855&utm_source=hs_email