ipl-logo

Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

1451 Words6 Pages

A common theme that has been discussed regarding the adversities that immigrants experience when arriving to the America are the social and cultural clashes between immigrants and citizens. What I find interesting is the conflicts pertaining to the health care system. Based on previous lectures, immigrants tend to mistrust the American healthcare system due to difference in medical remedies and the language spoken. I know first hand that my mother would perfer to have a Ghanaian physician, as opposed to the general white American doctor. Anne Fadiman wrote a successful award-winning book called, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, which highlights how the cultural differences between the Hmong culture and American medicine jeopardized the health of a little girl named Lia Lee. The story brings into light the topic of Medical anthropology, which is the study of medical systems, healing practices, and views on health from different cultures. Prior to reading this book, I always was thought of this issue in the immigrant 's perspective; I understood the mistrust that immigrants had in the health field, because they feel that the county is …show more content…

People of all ages can get it and a significant sign of diagnosing the condition is experiencing two or more seizures in a 24 hour period (“The Epilepsies” 2016). Although there is no cure for epilepsy, the condition can be controlled with anticonvulsants drugs. I personally have prior knowledge to the condition from my AP Biology class. I immediately thought of my senior year of high school, when I first was taught about epilepsy.My friend Nadine showed us a documentary which showed a old man who would suddenly fall out of consicouness during his daily tasks; I remember this documentary very well because it was a scary sight for me to

Show More
Related

  • Essay On Native Americans And Health Care

    482 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a healthcare setting you will see different cultures that will come and go. It is very important to know how to deal with each culture so that you can help them while still making sure they are comfortable. Native Americans have many different characteristics because of the different tribes from all over the world. Healthcare providers should be familiar with them so they know how to distinguish them if needed. While knowing their characteristics they should also know how to interact with Native Americans as well since their culture is a lot different than ours, we want to make sure that we don’t disrespect them.

    Read More

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

    1149 Words  | 5 Pages

    The author of this book is called Anne Fadiman. It is based on a story of a Hmong child known as Lia Lee who suffered from epilepsy. The demise of this condition shows the harm that can be contributed by absence of cross-cultural communication especially in the area of medicine. At the age of three months, the elder sister to Lia known as Yer banged a door which caused Lia to have the first seizure.

    Read More

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

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    ‘The spirit catches you and you fall down’ was published in 2012 by essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman. This introductory book review analyzes the way in which different cultures perceive illnesses and diseases. It focuses on the story of the Lees a Hmong family, who moved to the United States and experiences difficulties with language, culture and biomedicine method of healing, which contradict to Hmong’s way of healing. The chapters describe the differences between the ways childbirth is conducted in Hmong society compared to the western society. As well as the struggle the Lees family has with the cultural differences in diagnoses and treatment of their ill daughter.

    Read More

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

    162 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Anne Fadiman’s, A Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, there’s a conflicting battle going on between cultures. While it might never be specifically stated, Anne Fadiman attempts to convey a neutral understanding to her readers of the Hmong beliefs and culture alongside of the culture of biomedicine western society is mostly familiar with. While the Hmong beliefs and practices in medicine are taboo to western society, readers gradually see that Hmong medicine is just as equal or more powerful than biomedicine that we’re so familiar with. It’s an important concept to understand in this book is that the doctors are there to treat Lia’s disease, not precisely concerned with Lia as a person. Hmong medicine seems to be more related to in helping

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Book Report

    229 Words  | 1 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • 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.

    Read More

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

    842 Words  | 4 Pages

    A young Hmong man presents a five-minute oral report in French. The topic he chose was a recipe for la soupe de possion: Fish Soup. He extensively detailed the whole ordeal in a ‘in order to, you must ‘manner. His complex example of something simple extended to forty-five minutes long oral report. The ending results of his presentation left the classroom black board with factors, options and a flowchart written in French with Hmong.

    Read More

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

    1196 Words  | 5 Pages

    The United States can be easily defined as one of the world’s biggest power house, with technological and medical advances like no other. However, America is anything but perfect, as demonstrated in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, a tragic journey written by Anne Fadiman about Lia Lee, an epileptic girl who unfortunately surrenders to brain-death due to cultural dissimilarities and misunderstandings. After the getaway from the communist forces in Laos, the Hmong, including the Lees, became United States refugees. Although the Hmong escaped the dangers of their homeland, an overwhelming task of adapting to the American society consumes them. Fadiman presents the assimilation as an essential yet difficult part of a Hmong refugee through

    Read More

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

    1777 Words  | 8 Pages

    The book represents the Hmong and western medicine as being static. Throughout the book the Hmong are depicted as being very hard headed and not willing to adapt. It however also shows mainstream western medicine being just as stubborn to change. Historically the Hmong have faced many challenges, from being used by the American Army as cheap labour and soldiers to becoming refugees but they never gave up their cultural beliefs (Fadiman 1997). A specific example of this can be seen she talks about the tensions the Hmong faced in China, and how the Chinese government tried to change the Hmong community, and make them wear Chinese clothing, cut their hair short etc, however the Hmong responded to this by first fighting and eventually migrating(Fadiman 1997:16).

    Read More

  • Give Specific Examples Of Hmong Values

    1302 Words  | 6 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Cultural And Cultural Beliefs Of Puerto Rican Culture And Health

    1385 Words  | 6 Pages

    Puerto Rican Culture Religion, culture, beliefs, and ethnic customs can influence how patients understand health concepts, how they take care of their health, and how they make decisions related to their health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2015). As a nurse, it is important to understand that not every patient shares the same healthcare beliefs. A nurse must be able to perform his or her duties without judgement and care for each patient with respect for their own unique set of beliefs and morals. In this paper, the Puerto Rican culture will be discussed, from family units to religious and cultural beliefs, as well as how Western Medicine fits into their healthcare. Explain the culture.

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down Analysis

    1679 Words  | 7 Pages

    “I imagine what they would sound like if I could somehow splice [the tapes] together, so the voices of the Hmong and the voices of the American doctors could be heard on a single tape, speaking a common language” (Fadiman, ix). I was in awe at how quickly, in the last line of the preface, Anne Fadiman perfectly encapsulates all that is wrong with American medicine and the lack of cross-cultural knowledge healthcare professionals possess. She went on to write an eye-opening novel beautifully depicting the disarray that is the American healthcare system through the lens of the Lee’s, a Hmong family who struggled to care for their suffering daughter with epilepsy. I made a pact to myself to fully place myself in the position of the Lee’s as I was reading the novel. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have such a debilitating disease such as epilepsy and going to a doctor who not only didn’t understand my culture of beliefs, but refused to acknowledge or accept them.

    Read More

  • Uninsured Immigrants

    400 Words  | 2 Pages

    Immigrants face many barriers when it comes to gaining proper access to health care. Immigrants have the highest rate in the nation to not receive health insurance for the year. Not receiving health insurance is mainly due to the high cost of health care. Obtaining the proper health insurance is important for any human being because as humans we have to pay to be healthy. Immigrants come from their countries to seek better opportunities such as access to health care and health insurance.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Midterm: The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

    1960 Words  | 8 Pages

    Over the progression of the book the view points and relationships between the Lees and the doctors develops slightly. The medical staff was not prepared with a translator or a cultural understanding of the Hmong and how their beliefs would not match up with their medical practices. “Not only do the Hmong fail resoundingly to improve the payer mix- more than eighty percent are on Medi-Cal- but they have proved even more costly than other indigent patients, because they generally require more time and attention, and because there are so many of them that MCMC has to hire bilingual staff members to mediate between patients and providers” (Fadiman 25). This theme in the story was immensely eye opening for all of the cultural gaps that exist throughout the United States. The solution to this problem is for both sides standing on opposite sides of the gap to take the time to bridge the gap together.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Medical Field Essay

    829 Words  | 4 Pages

    If a Hispanic came into their local physicians office it is assumed that they are an illegal immigrant and shouldn’t be helped because they don’t belong here, they belong on the other side of the wall, in a land with no opportunity. Monique Tello had a patient of hers share a story of a painful experience in the emergency room. “They treated me like I was trying to play them, they didn’t try to make a diagnoses or help me at all” (Tello, 1). A middle-aged, church going, black women who has had no record of substance abuse, poorly treated because of the color of her skin and the stereotype she has unfairly fallen under. More stories like this exist, there are constant situations just like this one happening in hospitals all over the country.

    Read More

More about Summary Of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

Open Document