Originally published July 27 2005
Economic class has impact on health risks
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Social and economic class plays a big role in human health, and people with more education and income are less likely to suffer or die of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer than people with less money and education, due, in part, to the high price of medical care and due to the fact that some disease risk factors -- like smoking and poor diet choices -- may be higher among lower class individuals.
Will L. Wilson's heart attack came four days earlier in the bedroom of his brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn.
Social class -- a combination of factors including income, education, occupation and wealth -- played a powerful role in Miele's, Wilson's and Gora's struggles to recover.
Upper-middle-class Americans live longer and in better health than middle-class Americans, who live longer and better than those at the bottom.
The emergency medical technician offered Miele (pronounced MEE-lee) a choice.
THINGS WENT LESS flawlessly for Wilson, a 53-year-old transportation coordinator for Con Ed.
Again, the emergency medical technician offered a choice of two nearby hospitals -- neither of which had state permission to do angioplasty, the procedure Miele received.
After his first heart attack, in 2000, he quit smoking; but once he was feeling better, he stopped taking several medications, drifted back to red meat and fried foods, and let his exercise program slip.
By the time Dr. Bhalla encountered Wilson at Brooklyn Hospital, there was damage to all three main areas of his heart.
He would hunt for on-street parking or pay too much in a lot.
Then a stranger threatened to damage Wilson's car in a confrontation over a free spot, so Wilson switched to the subway.
In the meantime, she had acquired a roommate: Edward Gora, an asbestos-removal worker newly arrived from Poland and 10 years her junior, whom she married in 2003.
Like Miele, Gora had never imagined she was at risk of a heart attack, though she was overweight, hypertensive and a 30-year smoker, and heart attacks had killed her father and sister.
Jad Swingle, a doctor completing his specialty training in cardiology, led Gora into an examining room.
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