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Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

440 Words2 Pages

The book penned by Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down describes about cultural deviation and language barrier with respect to medical beliefs among Hmong natives who migrated to the United States. The story has exhibited the impact on conflicting cultural beliefs with reference to medical care and their interpretation towards Western medical health system (1997). This is a heartbreaking story about Hmong native couple and has a daughter named Lia who is suffering from epilepsy at an early age of 3 months old, which is regarded as a serious medical condition. Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder that affects all ages and characterized by unpredictable seizures (Epilepsy Foundation, 2014). However, in the book the disease in itself is no longer a source of urgency to Lia’s parents believe that their daughter’s soul had fled her body and become lost. In a similar vein, the disease was not …show more content…

It entails an awareness of the physical, social, spiritual and cultural needs of the patient. By so doing, it can help facilitate a more perceptive approach to the expectations of the patients. Hence, it will lead to the provision of a more culturally sensitive approach to the delivery of care. As a result, it will lead to an enhanced understanding and improved patient care. However, in the story it did not end up as expected. A tragic consequence that had a huge possibility that it could have turned out differently makes it especially so. Looking back on how old this book was written, there are several changes that are embraced within the medical arena with respect to cultural diversity. Demographic differences are now given weight as well as spirituality which is reckoned to be essential especially to the holistic approach to providing healthcare, one that embraces the mind, the body and the

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Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

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This book proved that in the end, neither way of thinking was completely wrong or completely right. Both the medical community and the Lees should have sought out ways in which they were able to better come to an agreement. For instance, the medical community could have tried to find a translator for the Lees which could have helped them both determine proper medical procedures. They also could have decided to learn more about the Hmong culture to have some understanding of where the Lees were coming from and avoid any barriers for them to better treat Lia. A big drawback that the medical community made was having a pessimistic outlook to Lia’s critical condition.

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The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Book Report

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“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anna Fadiman tells the story of Lia Lee, a Hmong child with epilepsy, whose life could have been different if only her family was caught up in western medicine. This book reveals the tragic struggles between a doctor and patient because of lack of communication. When Lia was around three months old, her older sister Yer accidentally slammed a door and Lia had suddenly fallen into the floor. This is the first recorded time that Lia was experiencing an epileptic shock.

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This paper presents a 60 years old male of Native American descent named Tomas Smith, who goes to the emergency department in an attempt to find some resolutions for the medical complications his is experiencing. Prior to seeking medical attention, the patient sought physical and spiritual healing for the art of cupping done that was by his tribal leaders, when the patient did not achieve the results he was hoping for, he decides to use the help of modern medicine. The patient and wife are not enthusiastic about modern medicine because of cultural beliefs but Mrs. Smith was afraid that she would lose her husband and call the ambulance for medical

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Summary Of Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

855 Words | 4 Pages

Anne Fadiman’s professional background is that of the Hmong lifestyle with its cultures against the entire American culture. In his background, there is miscommunication resulting from the refusal of the give medical dosages and other medicines due to the misunderstandings and mistrust. According to Barnsteiner , (p.71), there is also the inability of the US doctors to treat those people deeply rooted in the Hmong culture and they are also unable to learn that culture in the most helpful. Hmong is a refugee family in the US and that is where Ann Fadiman comes from. They come from provinces such as Laos and Sainyabuli which have tried to interact with the healthcare system in California and Merced.

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Analysis Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

585 Words | 3 Pages

The Hmong practice traditional healing and sacrifices and saw America as a place they could continue doing so. Soon, they learned that American doctors did not respect their traditional beliefs in medicine and saw western medicine as the “right way.” Doctors grew angry that their Hmong patients would not agree with their treatments. The Lee’s are one of many who experienced this first hand.

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Book Report On The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

2160 Words | 9 Pages

The Lee Family The book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, is a story of a Hmong child and her family who collide poorly with American culture and medicine. Lia Lee was their last child out of thirteen brothers and sisters. Lia, whose family is from a very cultural land, was diagnosed with epilepsy after her family fled to America. This led to numerous cultural collisions, miscommunication issues along with medical incompetence, and her parents’ custody battle with the American government. They came to America for safety and security, where they were left unfairly treated.

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540 Words | 3 Pages

The fear of the unknown aides in fueling the imagination with picturing the most lucrative reasons for how the Americans practice medicine. To those educated in the ways of the western world, the scenarios described by the Hmong are outrageous, the eating of internal organs and the selling of dead

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Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

905 Words | 4 Pages

Task: Name: Course Name: Course Code: Lecturer: Date:   The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book written by Anne Fadiman about a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of the two cultures. It was first published in 1997. The author writes about Lia, a Hmong girl, who suffered from epilepsy that was recognised as qaug dab peg meaning the spirit catches you and you fall down in Hmong.

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Cultural insensitivity is prevalent throughout the Hmong’s journey with the American health care system. Between 8 months and 4.5 years Lia was in the hospital seventeen times and made more the one hundred visits to ER and paediatric clinic. The health care system failed to attempt to understand the Hmong language and culture, which lead to the Hmong adapting their cultural traditions and familiarities to please

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Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman

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Anne Fadiman’s book, “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” tells the story of a young Hmong Child, Lia Lee, living in America. Lia has various medical ailments, including epilepsy, and there is a big cultural clash and confusion between the American medical staff and the Lee family’s beliefs. This book provides a holistic representation of ethics and ethical dilemmas, particularly relating to culture and respecting other cultures. This book gave me insight on what can really occur in complex ethical dilemmas with cultural differences present. The ethical dilemmas involved medical professionals, social workers, translators, and the family.

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How Did You Notice Culture Impacting The Health And Illness Course Of Lia Lee

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Were some of the repercussions that resulted because of the clash between the use of Hmong traditional practices and the physicians’ biomedical treatment in the care of Lia Lee? Yes. Lia’s parent and the medical professional at MCMC both cared for Lia and wanted the best for her. However, in Hmong’s culture seizure is seen as divine in nature and MCMC’s aggressive treatment did not sit well with Lia’s parent primarily because of lack of understanding and because of this.

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1336 Words | 6 Pages

Book Review: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Tim Merlino Drexel University November 2017 The patient-doctor relationship recognizes transference affects as a bi-directional relationship which affects the way a health care provider treats a patient and the way the patient responds to treatment (Zinn, 1990). Fadiman’s book examines different problems in the culture of American medicine by highlighting a tragedy centered around a Hmong immigrant family and their sick child, Lia, in California (Fadiman, 2012). The story also highlights some important lessons to be learned by the American health care system to avoid future incidents like described by Fadiman and to ultimately apply cultural competency in public health (Fadiman, 2012).

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1617 Words | 7 Pages

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