What is the spirit catches you and you fall down about?
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the poignant story of a young Hmong girl suffering from epilepsy who is caught in the cultural chasm between her family and her rationalist American doctors.
What is the antagonist in the spirit catches you and you fall down?
Antagonist: The most immediate antagonistic force in The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down is Lia’s epilepsy, though Fadiman is more interested in exploring the miscommunication across cultural divides that render her doctors and parents unable to work together to treat her illness.
When did Anne Fadiman write spirit catches you and you fall down?
Publication date. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a 1997 book by Anne Fadiman that chronicles the struggles of a Hmong refugee family from Houaysouy, Sainyabuli Province, Laos, the Lees, and their interactions with the health care system in Merced, California.
Who are the doctors in the spirit catches you and you fall down?
Anne Fadiman: author and narrator of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, writing about her experience with Lia and her family. Throughout the story, she stresses the importance of cultural competence in the doctor-patient relationship (and in the greater medical establishment). Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp: Lia’s primary care doctors at MCMC.
What is the lesson from the The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down?
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a moving story that highlights the importance of acknowledging and respecting people's beliefs as part of their health care — in other words, cultural competence. And thanks in part to this book, cultural competence is now a required lesson in many medical schools.
Why did Nao Kao grab Lia and attempt to flee the hospital?
As Lia is being prepared for release, the doctors tell Nao Kao that she will probably die within weeks. Upset because he "perceived the doctors' comments [...] as threats," Nao Kao grabs Lia and attempts to flee the hospital (13.31).
Was Lia Lee in a vegetative state?
But Lia's underlying medical issues were more complex still, for she had lived the last 26 of her 30 years in a persistent vegetative state.
What happened to Jeanine hilt?
In 1993, Jeanine Hilt has a brutal asthma attack while at Disneyland. She falls into a vegetative state ("exactly the same fate that had befallen Lia") and dies three days later (17.4).
What happened to Lia's condition after she was sent home under her parents care?
Gold and Dross Miraculously, Lia completely stabilized when she returned home.
Who did Lia's family believe captured her spirit in chapter three?
So here's the deal. Lia has her first seizure when she's three months old. Her parents blame this on her older sister, Yer: Yer had slammed the door just before the seizure happened, which in their minds scared the soul out of Lia's body.
What's Lia's initial diagnosis?
We watch Lia, the little Hmong girl diagnosed with epilepsy, slowly fade from this world with every seizure. Fadiman brilliantly roasts us over a slow flame by revealing the family's agony in tandem with the doctor's feelings of futility.
Was Lia's life ruined by cross cultural misunderstanding?
It cannot quite be argued that the cross-cultural misunderstanding “ruined” (262) Lia's life, since the outcome may very well have been the same even if the misunderstanding was resolved, or even worse. However, Fadiman seems to believe that the cross-cultural misunderstanding indeed “ruined” (242) Lia's life.
What is true about how the Lee family viewed their daughter Lia's illness?
They were especially concerned that anything would compromise her health and happiness. Jeanine Hilt, a social worker who worked with the Lees, said that they considered Lia an anointed one and her illness more of a blessing than an affliction.
Who is Neil and Peggy in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down?
One of Lia's primary doctors (along with his wife, Peggy Philp) at Merced Community Medical Center. Neil is a highly intelligent and inquisitive pediatrician who specializes in infections, asthma, and allergies.
How many kids did FOUA Lee have?
Having given birth to twelve children in her native Laos, Foua and her family fled to a refugee camp in Thailand to escape the dangerous communist forces that had won control of her country in 1975. She gave birth there to her thirteenth child, Mai.
What event occurred to the philps that made Peggy realize that sorrow of motherhood cut through all cultural barriers?
As for Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp, they developed an even greater understanding of the Lees when their own son developed leukemia. When Foua heard about their son's disease, she hugged Peggy, and they shed a few tears. “Sorrow of motherhood cut through all cultural barriers.”
Why does Lia need to be transferred to Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno?
She had seized for two straight hours when a twenty minute continuous seizure is continued life-threatening. She had to be transferred to Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno.
What did the doctors expect to be the outcome of Lia's stay at the Fresno hospital?
Although the doctors expected Lia to die shortly after being taken off life support, she continued to live, and Jeanine Hilt advocated for the Lee family—who wanted Lia to die at home—by organizing for a transfer back to MCMC.
Why did Lia's family think she was transferred to a different hospital?
She went to the emergency room and Dr. Neil Ernst could not do anything. He talked to Lia's parents about transferring her to Fresno, California, because Lia would need further treatment that Ernst could not provide. Lia's parents believed their daughter was transferred because of the Ernsts' vacation plans.
What did medical staff at MCMC fail to do and fail to think of as a cause of her big one?
Why did the doctors at MCMC fail to correctly diagnose Lia with epilepsy at first? Lia's seizures had stopped by the time she got to the hospital, and there was no interpreter to explain what had happened.
In Western medicine, what is "quag dab peg"?
wy did lees trust, Jeanine? why did Jeanine succeed where so many had failed.
Who filed a report about Lia to Child Protective Services?
n April 1985, after receiving word that the Lees were once again modifying Lia's medical treatment, Neil sent a note to Child Protective Services r...
Why was Lia transferred to a different hospital in Chapter 11?
MCMC didn't have a children's Intensive Care Unit, so they transferred her to Valley Children's Hospital in Fresno.
What is the antagonist in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down?
Antagonist: The most immediate antagonistic force in The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down is Lia’s epilepsy, though Fadiman is more interested in exploring the miscommunication across cultural divides that render her doctors and parents unable to work together to treat her illness.
What happens to Lia in the finale of the movie?
Climax: During Lia’s final seizure, the doctors are ultimately unable to stabilize her, thereby failing to protect her from monumental neurological damage that leaves her paralyzed and nonresponsive.
What happened to Foua and Toby after Lia's death?
After Lia's brain death, the Lees had hardly any trust left in the American medical system. When their daughter May broke her arm, they refused a cast and instead bathed the arm in herbs and wrapped it in a poultice for a week. (She fully recovered.)
What did Foua sacrifice?
When a pot of hot oil burned Foua's hip and leg, she sacrificed two chickens and a pig. When Foua got pregnant and had a miscarriage, Nao Kao called an ambulance only after she fell unconscious.
Why did Lia have seizures?
It may have been that the Depakene the doctors had prescribed to control Lia's epilepsy compromised her immune system and made her more susceptible to the bacillus which caused the septic shock.
Was the shaman ceremony successful?
The project was incredibly successful. At times the ceremony caused the patient to be more amenable to medical procedures, as he or she accepted that the pain was not a spiritual problem. At other times, the ceremony alone was enough to alleviate the pain.
What chapter does Lia's family celebrate her return home?
Read More. Chapter 9. Lia's family celebrates her permanent return home in April 1986 by sacrificing a cow. Animal sacrifice, a reverent occas... Read More. Chapter 10. This chapter explains how the Hmong people became exiled from their native country of Laos.
What is Chapter 19 of The Afterword?
Chapter 19. Following in the footsteps of Shee Yee, a healer in Hmong folklore, txiv neebs, or shamans, pursue the lost souls of sic ... Read More. Afterword to the Fifteenth Anniversary Edition. The Afterword was written in 2012, 15 years after the book was first published in 1997. Anne updates readers on the book...
What chapter does Anne recall the story of Lia?
Chapter 1. Though Lia's mother Foua Yang gives birth to Lia in the United States, she delivered 12 children in her native Laos. The... Read More. Chapter 2. Anne recalls a story about a young Hmong American community college student in Merced.
Who wrote the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down?
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a 1997 book by Anne Fadiman that chronicles the struggles of a Hmong refugee family from Houaysouy, Sainyabuli Province, Laos, the Lees, and their interactions with the health care system in Merced, California.
Why did Lia's condition worsen?
Through miscommunications about medical dosages and parental refusal to give certain medicines due to mistrust, misunderstandings, and behavioral side effects, and the inability of the doctors to develop more empathy with the traditional Hmong lifestyle or try to learn more about the Hmong culture, Lia's condition worsens. The dichotomy between the Hmong's perceived spiritual factors and the Americans' perceived scientific factors comprises the overall theme of the book.
