The number of Michigan children whose parents died from overdose, suicide, homicide or other substance-related causes has surged since 2000, accounting for 2 in 5 parental deaths, a new University of Michigan study found.
Michigan has higher parental mortality rates than the national average, said Sean Esteban McCabe, professor at the U-M School of Nursing and lead author of the study, which appears in JAMA Network Open.
McCabe and his team wanted to better understand the state landscape of stigmatized deaths. The goal was to provide bereavement services to the children left behind in the areas that need it most.
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