for the child. A truly progressive medical approach would prevent children from coming into contact with lead to begin with. Before the meeting ended, she stood and told the room full of pediatricians that there might be a lead problem in Flint. After she provided some preliminary details, the executive director of the meeting suggested they address the topic at a meeting on Saturday during an advocacy lunch, when more pediatricians would be present.

The next day, Friday, Dr. Hanna-Attisha could not focus on the conference and was instead engaged in text and email conversations with Jenny and Dr. Edwards about potential problems with their data. One problem that Dr. Edwards saw was that they were comparing data from different seasons, and lead levels would inevitably be higher in higher temperatures. Jenny ran the data controlling for seasons and found that lead levels were still higher after the water switch. After a conference session, Dr. Reynolds found Dr. Hanna-Attisha. He had a state senator, Jim Ananich, on the phone. Putting the phone on speaker, the senator asked if Dr. Edwards’s research was accurate. Dr. Hanna-Attisha confirmed that it was and then gave him advice about feeding his newborn baby. After the call, Dr. Reynolds asked Dr. Hanna-Attisha if she had heard of the concept of “environmental injustice.” During her early college years, Dr. Hanna-Attisha had taken courses on the subject. She alludes to the possibility of a racist conspiracy: given the way lead affects intelligence and development, she states, “if you were going to put something in a population to keep people down for generations to come, it would be lead.”

Chapter 15

With Kirk Smith on board, Dr. Hanna-Attisha was hopeful that they would be able to issue a public health advisory. Kirk sent an email to this effect to the director of public works, who responded by stating that the state was meeting all standards. However, the mayor of Flint, Dayne Walling, also responded that Friday, wanting more details. They scheduled a meeting for Monday, and Dr. Hanna-Attisha agreed to put together a presentation with her data. She collaborated over the weekend with Dr. Edwards and Jenny to make sure the findings were perfect. Additionally, on Saturday, she attended the advocacy lunch for the American Academy of Pediatrics, attended by about 100 other pediatricians. She shares the preliminary data at the lunch and explained that the county and state health departments were not sharing data or responding with urgency. Many in the group offered her words of support, and some even offered to help in whatever way they could.

Dr. Hanna-Attisha had not been speaking with her brother, Mark, as often as usual during this time. She explains that he works for a public interest law firm, and although the battles he and his sister fight may be different, they are fighting the same war against injustice. The weekend of the pediatrics conference, Mark was in town for a college reunion. Both siblings were busy, but on Saturday night, he, his sister, and Elliot sat together to work on a jigsaw puzzle. Elliot brought up the topic of water, and Dr. Hanna-Attisha shared what she had been working on for the past few weeks. Mark suggested that part of the difficulty in convincing the government to respond might be an upcoming mayoral election. No elected official wants to be guilty of wrongdoing when up for reelection. As an experienced lawyer who sometimes represented whistleblowers, he warned his sister to watch out for retaliation. Despite the fact that some might try to discredit her or ruin her life, she was committed to her project, and she knew that her brother understood.

Analysis

Although Dr. Hanna-Attisha is clearly accomplished as an individual, she has thus far been defeated and, to a degree, has approached the water crisis with trepidation. She does not know how to navigate this issue in relation to politics and government, and she has kept the issue from most of her family. She has little reason to feel confident, as she has faced a host of difficulties since she learned about Flint’s water crisis. Even in chapter 13, when she tries to obtain access to bottled water through the WIC office, she is told that there is no emergency and that they cannot act. However, in the next chapter she receives IRB approval and has access to more blood-lead data. She begins to develop a stronger voice and brings the issue up to a room full of respected peers. It is clear that she has now shared her data with Dr. Edwards, which she and Elin were hesitant to do several chapters earlier. This newfound confidence is well expressed by way of the jigsaw puzzle in chapter 15, which is indicative of the idea of pieces falling into place. Since she learned about the water crisis, Dr. Hanna-Attisha has been struggling to access blood-lead data and garner governmental support for her claims. By the end of chapter 15, however, she has several other hospital employees, Dr. Edwards, a coalition of pediatricians, a state senator, and several members of her family supporting her, and she is meeting with the mayor the next day. In addition to her medical expertise, we see her developing expertise in navigating the political arena at work behind the water crisis.