Claim
The premature deaths of middle-aged Americans arise from many cases of suicide, an outbreak of liver diseases, regular use of painkillers as well as the overdose of drugs.
Part B
Based on the following sources the claim is true because the researchers of the articles consulted have given adequate attention to analyzing the causes of the premature deaths of the middle-aged white Americans. According to the article, "Mortality trends among working-age whites: the untold story," it is evident that most of the middle-aged Americans tend to die prematurely because of the overdose of drugs and the outbreak of liver diseases. “causes of death account for the increase in midlife white mortality: accidental poisonings (mostly drug overdoses), suicides, and chronic liver diseases and cirrhosis associated with alcohol consumption” (Squires & David 3).
Based on the claim stated above, the death of the whites is associated with the cases of the outbreak of liver diseases, suicides, and an overdose of drugs. It is also evident that most of the liver diseases arise due to the excessive consumption of alcohol by most middle-aged whites. As a result, the claim gets a significant backing by the researchers relating their findings to the claims of Case and Deacon.
Additionally, based on the article entitled "Rising suicide among adults aged 40–64 years: the role of job and financial circumstances," the authors support the claim by stating that the alarming increase in the rate of premature deaths of the middle-aged Americans is as a result of the many cases of suicide. “Since 1999, suicide rates for middle-aged adults in the U.S. have risen approximately 40% but have remained stable for other age groups” (Hempstead et al. 491). Therefore, it is evident that the claims made by Case and Deaton have undergone a significant level of scrutiny by the various groups of researchers, who have also put their claims in writing, and they are reliable in giving information relating to the suicide cases as a cause of premature deaths among the middle-aged.
Lastly, the article entitled “Prescription drug abuse: Problem, policies, and implications," it is deducible that the use of painkillers among middle-aged Americans without prescription from the physician, is a key contributor to premature deaths within the same age set. “Americans aged 12 and older reported nonmedical use of prescription painkillers” (Phillips 2).
The search engine explored for the generation of the above information and articles is Google scholar. The URL for each article is placed exactly below each article in the references section. Additionally, the keywords used in the search process include, “painkillers in causing premature deaths among middle-aged Americans”“, cases of suicide among the middle-aged Americans”, and “liver diseases and drug overdose in killing middle-aged Americans.”
Finally, it is evident that there was an application of several keywords, and the sources selected had adequate information to support the claim. Additionally, the sources discarded had reliable information, though it was easy to obtain the information from the selected sources. Therefore, there was no source discarded due to lack of persuasive information about the subject. Therefore, the choice of the ones to discard and ones to keep depends on the ease of obtaining the desired information from the source. Some sources have information that is easily accessible when one is skimming through them.
Work Cited
Hempstead, Katherine A., and Julie A. Phillips. "Rising suicide among adults aged 40–64 years:the role of job and financial circumstances." American journal of preventive medicine 48.5 (2015): 491-500. Retrieved from http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~japhill/AJPM_2015_Rising%20Suicide%20Among%20Adults%20Aged%2040-64%20Yearse.pdf
Phillips, Janice. "Prescription drug abuse: Problem, policies, and implications." Nursing outlook 61.2 (2013): 78-84. Retrieved from http://www.healthpolicyfellows.org/pdfs/Phillips-PDAfromFellowship.pdf
Squires, David, and David c. "Mortality trends among working-age whites: the untold story." Issue brief (Commonwealth Fund) 3 (2016): 1-11. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2016/jan/1861_squires_mortality_trends_working_age_whites_ib.pdf
