A Eulogy for Jane Robinson: A Social Autopsy of Uncare Policies

Shortly after losing her health insurance in 2018, Jane Robinson died of a treatable respiratory infection. This article argues that Jane's death occurred at the nexus of two different approaches to care: the necropolitics of uncare and the micropolitics of generative care labor. Both of these...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical anthropology quarterly 2022-03, Vol.36 (1), p.27-43
Main Authors: Mulligan, Jessica M., Weil, Madeline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affordable Care Act
Anthropology, Medical
Attitudes
Autopsies
Autopsy
Biopolitics
COVID-19
Death & dying
Female
generative labor
Health care
health care safety net
Health insurance
Health services
Humans
Life control
Medicine
Policy
Respiratory diseases
social autopsy
Social networks
uncare
United States
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Shortly after losing her health insurance in 2018, Jane Robinson died of a treatable respiratory infection. This article argues that Jane's death occurred at the nexus of two different approaches to care: the necropolitics of uncare and the micropolitics of generative care labor. Both of these approaches to care increased Jane's health and social vulnerability, in turn quickening her death. We adopt the necropolitics of uncare framework to identify and name the harmful policies and attitudes of disregard that control access to life saving medical care. In the micropolitics of care in Jane's life, she became the safety net for others, which left little over when her health began to deteriorate. This social autopsy reveals that her care networks were insufficient to undo the uncare enshrined in state policy. Jane's unnecessary death foreshadowed the excess mortality that the United States has experienced from COVID‐19.
ISSN:0745-5194
1548-1387
DOI:10.1111/maq.12664