Map of states reporting SIDS as casue of infant death
Analysis of some 20,000 official records of sudden infant death in the United States from 2000 to 2004 indicates huge irregularities in how states report infant mortality.
1998 deaths
I was just wondering if you have any records of the deaths in 1998. I lost my son, John, in June of 1998 and would like to find out more info surrounding his death.
Thanks for all of your work!
Cathy (Fry) McDonald
Not Reporting
My son Cody Dawson Pollock passed away on June 16 2004 in Martin County Fl and it is no where to be found on the stats. His cause of death cleary says on his death certificate is SIDS. The medical examiner contacted me by mail writing a letter stating he was so sorry about our beautiful baby boy but he was sorry to tell us that he was perfect and could not tell me why he passed.
About your son
Jennifer,
I believe I can see your son's record in the CDC files. Cody was born Jan. 17, 2004 and died June 16, 2004, one day short of being five months old. According to our data, there was a four-month-old white, non-Hispanic male infant who died on a Wednesday in the month of June of 2004. The diagnosis was "natural death" caused by SIDS. That's probably your child, although the reporting county is listed as "rural Florida." According to the federal record, this child died (or was pronounced dead) in a hospital emgergency room. The reporting county has less than 100,000 population, and so the exact location was redacted (withheld) for privacy reasons. But since everything else matches up, I'm fairly confident that record number 4,800 in our database refers to Cody.
Thomas Hargrove
Scripps Howard News Service
1090 Vermont Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20005
hargrovet@shns.com
202-408-2703
Need more information
Cathy: Yes, I have CDC records for 1998, although the further back in time we go, the less accurate and detailed the information becomes. But I'll try to find your son's record. Please e-mail me his date of birth and death and the county and state where he died. You can e-mail me at hargrovet@shns.com. Thank you for your posts. These are very insightful comments. -- Thomas Hargrove Scripps Howard News Service 1090 Vermont Avenue NW Washington, DC 20005 202-408-2703