The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - 1993 Words

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down It is difficult enough to go to the emergency ward with a family member and speak the same language as the staff. The admitting nurse wants all insurance information, another nurse/secretary asks for injury/illness history and, meanwhile, the person who needs to see the doctor is waiting in pain. The stress mounts and communication becomes harder. Now, take that same scenario when someone in the ER does not speak the language or know the culture of the patient. It not only severely complicates the process, but endangers the person needing the care. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is the tragedy about three-month-old Lia Lee, from Laos, who unfortunately was one of these†¦show more content†¦It appears that the California educational system understands the need for enhancing cultural understanding. This is a positive sign in education. Interest in the subject of cultural and linguistic competency is beginning to reach the â€Å"tipping point† ( Gladwell, 2002). Over the past two decades, there has been an â€Å"explosion† of interest in developing programs that meet the general, mental and oral health, as well as social service needs of the country’s increasingly diverse population. Cultural and linguistic competence initiatives are underway at the systems, organizational, and clinical levels in a variety of institutions. A growing number of federal agencies, foundations, and private organizations are supporting innovative educational, research, and service delivery services. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), for example, has Centers for Excellence (COEs) that use a curriculum guide for integrating cultural and linguistic competency content, methods and evaluation into existing academic programs (HRSA, 2005). However, changes in the medical field are going more slowly. According to an article by Metzyl and Poirier (2004), medical humanities programs now promote awareness of the soc ial aspects of medicine, and the Association of American Medical Colleges instituted cultural competencies for clinical interaction for the training of medical students. However, these authors say, â€Å"current efforts to impart understandings of theShow MoreRelatedThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down1888 Words   |  8 Pagesan example of culture. Authors Anne Fadiman and Joshua Reno explores the different aspects of culture and ethnography in their two books, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures, and Waste Away: Working and Living with a North American Landfill. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down illustrates the story of a Hmong child who has sever epilepsy, and the communication and cultural differences and challenges between western doctorsRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down2167 Words   |  9 PagesStructural Causes of Cultural Insensitivity in Anne Fadiman’s The Spiri t Catches You and You Fall Down Many years ago, an epileptic Hmong girl named Lia Lee entered a permanent vegetative state due to cross-cultural misunderstanding between her parents and her doctors. An author named Anne Fadiman documented this case and tried to untangle what exactly went wrong with the situation. Two key players in her narrative were Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp, the main doctors on Lia’s case. As Fadiman describesRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down1004 Words   |  5 Pages1.) The book that I chose for my book report is, The spirit catches you and you fall down. The book was written by essayist and reporter, Ann Fadiman and was published in 1997 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. There are 288 pages in this book. 2.) The book is non-fiction. 3.) When I was choosing a book, I was in utter confusion. I wasn t a reader and I didn t know where to look. Luckily, however, Professor Yanmei was able to show me this amazing book! 4.) There were many characters in this book, butRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay1527 Words   |  7 PagesThe English translation of the Hmong phrase â€Å"quag dab peg† is that the spirit catches you and you fall down. While western society knows this as epilepsy, the Hmong believe that the seizures are caused by the presence of a â€Å"dab† or soul stealing spirit, which leads the soul to leave the body.1 The Hmong consider those who suffer from epilepsy to be respectable and of a higher status. In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the doctors and the Hmong are looking for a solution to the same problem;Read MoreCultural Diversity In The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down1549 Words   |  7 Pages Cultural Diversity What happens when two very different or even mutually exclusive cultural perspective are forced into contact with one another? In Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, there is a division between the shamanistic insubordinate cultural of Hmong refugees in Merced, California and the cold analytical approach of western medicine. In the early 1980s, the child of a Hmong refugee family in Merced, California is born with epilepsy, her name is Lia Lee. Anne FadimanRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You As You Fall Down By Anne Fadiman1688 Words   |  7 PagesThe book, The spirit Catches you as you Fall Down by Anne Fadiman follows the life of a Hmong family living in the city of Merced California after fleeing their home in Laos due to persecution. The main focus of the book is a little girl named Lia Lee who suffers tragedy in her life at a very young age. The book illustrates the differences between the healing methods, or medical procedures between the western cult ure and the Hmong culture, and how if affected Lia and her family as she grew up. TheRead More The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman Essay1868 Words   |  8 PagesThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is about the cross-cultural ethics in medicine. The book is about a small Hmong child named Lia Lee, who had epilepsy. Epilepsy is called, quag dab peg1 in the Hmong culture that translates to the spirit catches you and you fall down. In the Hmong culture this illness is sign of distinction and divinity, because most Hmong epileptics become shaman, or as the Hmong call them, txiv neeb2. These shamans are special people imbued with healing spiritsRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Essay1566 Words   |  7 PagesThe book titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: Talks about a Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures written by Anne Fadiman. Anne Fadiman is an American essayist and reporter, who int erests include literary journalism. She is a champion of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Salon Book Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest. In the book, Anne Fadiman explores the clash between a county hospital in CaliforniaRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down1273 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States is known for its melting pot of cultures, which creates one of the most contentious issues in the medical world which is the clash of cultures. The book we read â€Å"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down† is a great example of how a miss communication and struggle between cultures which lead to a very dismal end. The difference in beliefs cause constant issues in communication, even though both want what is best. Lia Lee was born into a Hmong refugee family with very bad epilepsyRead MoreThe Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down968 Words   |  4 PagesResponse to The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down â€Å"Medicine was religion. Religion was society. Society was medicine† (Fadiman, 1997). To the Hmong’s, this is a way of life. Everything in their culture is interrelated and represents a holistic view. As Americans, we try to incorporate the holistic approach into our health care system, but heavily rely on medications and science to treat illness. Arthur Kelinman developed the explanatory model of illness which incorporates a series of questions