Death | VivirLatino

Posts Tagged ‘death’

Real life effects of border militarization

6:17 pm By la Macha · Immigration · Comments Off

25 Mar 2009

bordercrosssingdeath From Mary Cueves comes the details of her trip down to see the work a border crossing group does to help immigrants

It’s a typically horrifying story–death, desperation, gendered violence, and ineffectiveness riddle the pictures and words.I’ve never suggested that our border policies were either perfect or completely horribly wrong, but I must say that it’s important to note that people don’t risk death without very very good reason. If there is any person in the U.S. who would say that they wouldn’t attempt a border crossing if it meant keeping food in front of their children, I’d say that that person is not a parent.

There has to be a better way.
And thank God for the few people who truly are acting as Christians.

Latinos and Blacks Pay More for Health Care at End of Life

12:21 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Health| Money · Comments Off

10 Mar 2009

30340-my-hospital-room-0 Latinos and blacks are less likely to seek out medical care throughout their lives, leading to increased costs at the end of life which far outweigh what is spent by white patients, according to a new report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Dying Hispanics and black Americans have much higher treatment costs than whites, because they get more costly, intensive treatments as they near death, say researchers who analyzed data from the last six months of life of almost 160,000 Medicare patients.

The average cost for Hispanic patients in those final months of life was $31,702, compared with $26,704 for blacks and $20,166 for whites. Compared to white patients, costs were about 30 percent higher for blacks and almost 60 percent more for Hispanics, the Associated Press reported.

According to U.S. News & World Report, researchers have concluded that the reason for this is the lack of medical care received by black and Latino patients throughout life who, upon becoming terminally ill, receive “more treatment when there’s little chance of improving or extending their lives.”

Via / U.S. News & World Report

Heath Ledger Dead at 28

5:31 pm By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities| Entertainment · Comments Off

22 Jan 2008

actor%20heath%20ledger.jpg In the wake of Oscar buzz, some sad news about a great Oscar-nominated actor:

At 3:31 p.m., a masseuse arrived at Apartment 5A in the building, at 421 Broome Street in SoHo, for an appointment with Mr. Ledger, the police said. The masseuse was let in to the home by a housekeeper, who then knocked on the door of the bedroom Mr. Ledger was in. When no one answered, the housekeeper and the masseuse opened the bedroom and found Mr. Ledger naked and unconscious on a bed, with pills scattered around his body. They shook him, but he did not respond. They immediately called the authorities.

Apparently ledger wasn’t found in his own apartment but rather that of actress Mary Kate Olsen (of the Olsen twins).

The New York Times’ City Room blog is currently treating this is as breaking news, so check back there for updates on how the story develops.

Truly shocking and very sad. What a loss.

Update: City Room has updated the story with comments from Olsen’s publicist, who says the apartment does not belong to Mary Kate.

Via / City Room

Castro close to death, says U.S.

12:35 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cuba| Politics · Comments Off

15 Dec 2006

The U.S. government is claiming that Cuban leader Fidel Castro is extremely ill and near death, reports Reuters:

Everything we see indicates it will not be much longer … months, not years,” Negroponte told The Washington Post.

As speculation swirls around what will happen when Castro actually does die, a Gallup poll shows that 47% of Cubans agree with Castro’s regime:

The Gallup poll released Thursday showed that 47 percent of the Cubans polled approved the job performance of their leaders and 40 percent disapproved.

The flip side of the poll is that the Cubans polled say they aren’t satisfied with the personal liberty they have under Castro’s rule:

Only one in four Cubans declared to be satisfied with their levels of personal freedom. By contrast, four out of every five Latin Americans said they were satisfied with their personal freedom.

Via / Reuters and Miami Herald

Chilean army to sanction Pinochet’s grandson

12:55 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Chile| Controversia · 5 Comments

13 Dec 2006

Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s grandson, General Augusto Pinochet Molina, will be sanctioned by the Chilean army for the eulogy he gave at his grandfather’s funeral, in which he praised the 1973 coup d’etat that boosted him into power. The Chilean army says, in a statement:

“He committed a serious offfense to our organization and measures will be taken.” The army also added that the in the funeral’s program, the grandson was not scheduled to speak and that his words “do not represent the doctrine or the official opinion” of the institution.”

The grandson exalted Pinochet’s actions in the eulogy, saying, “In the midst of the Cold War, he defeated Marxism which was intent on imposing its totalitarian model (on us) not by vote, but by the use of armed force, and rightly so.”

According to El Mundo, the sanction placed upon Pinochet Molina could lead to his expulsion from the Chilean military.

Via / El Mundo

Image via El Mundo/Reuters

Final moments of Indy journalist killed in Oaxaca

12:52 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism| Controversia| mexico · Comments Off

31 Oct 2006

It’s hard to believe that idyllic Oaxaca City is the scene of such calamity and bloodshed, as Mala’s been telling us about lately. As she mentioned in a previous post, New York-based journalist for Indymedia, Brad Will, was caught in the crossfire and killed by a bullet to the chest as he was covering the confrontation for the website.

Spain’s 20 Minutos reports today that Will was shooting video at the time, and captured his last moments — and his own death — on tape.

Will received a shot in the chest during a shootout and died on the way to a public hospital.

Now there are questions as to who fired the shot that killed him.

For the moment, the only valid testimony is the one that he himself captured with his camera: his own death.

Meeting death while looking for a new life

4:58 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Justice| children · Comments Off

14 Mar 2006

Chasing after a new and better life above the Rio Bravo continues to prove deadly for so many immigrants, not the least of which are often children.

Three days into the journey, a U.S. Border Patrol agent spotted the group of illegal immigrants, and as the agent chased them, the Border Patrol truck hit Cruz-Torralva and his daughter, Lourdes, killing her.

Yuma County sheriff’s detectives determined the death was an accident, but Cruz-Torralva was arrested on charges of endangerment. Deputies argued that he had placed the child in “risk of imminent death” by bringing her into the desert.

SPOOKY: Colombiana twins die at the exact same moment

4:59 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Colombia| Family| Health · Comments Off

7 Mar 2006

By far the weirdest Latino-related story of the day:

BOGOTÁ.- Twins María Catalina and Ana Catalina Herazo Villadiego, 76 years old, died last week on the same day, at the same time, and from the same disease in two different towns in the Caribbean region of Colombia, said local media.

The elderly women, were born in Sincé (departamento de Sucre); one died there and another Corozal, this past February 28, according to the ‘El Heraldo’ newspaper of Barranquilla.

Is there a scientific explanation for this? Is this a hoax? Whatever it is, it creeped me out.

Via / El Mundo

It’s True: Where IS All of the Coverage on the Disaster in Latin America?

10:47 am By Maegan La Mala · Latin America| Media| mexico · 2 Comments

11 Oct 2005

I just read a great article entitled, Central American Flood, Where is the Coverage?, discussing the flooding from Hurricane Stan in Mexico & Guatemala and the lack of press attention in the US. I have to say that this is something that has been bothering me for some time, and I’m glad someone has taken the lead in discussing it. Hundreds have died and thousands are in great need.

I’m not even going to summarize it…just recommend that everyone go read the article. It’s time that the US start paying attention to the rest of the world, as they pay attention to us. It’ll come back to bite us sooner than many think.

Central American Flood: Where is the Coverage?
Via / HispanicTips

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