“Left in the lurch” describes a French board game where players “suffered a lurch” if they were left in a hopeless position from which they couldn’t win. We had Health Matters see patients in our region who are left in the lurch, with declining health resources and a diminishing life expectancy. We document this, talk about insurance companies left in the lurch, Alzheimer’s families left in the lurch, and then we end on a proud note, with a Native American tribe receiving a patent for a billion-dollar drug. Things have a way of working out, especially if you have sovereign immunity.
Tip: Children born in Appalachia in 2009 have a life expectancy of 76.9 years, 2.4 years lower than the rest of the US. This gap has widened from 7 months since 1992.
Links:
Declining life expectancy in Kentucky
Allergan transfers the patents for Allergan to the Mohawk tribe