The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Could the Lee’s have given her herbal remedies and sacrificed animals in order to treat the epilepsy? Although the American doctors thought that their way of practicing medicine was most beneficial, can a Hmong family truly understand it when they use such different methodologies?Hmong medicine relies entirely on herbs and Shamanist practices. By studying miscommunication between Hmong patients and their American doctors, Fadiman demonstrates that many cross-cultural misunderstandings hinge on a disconnect between the two parties’ priorities. Think about it, if you view proper healthcare as a spiritual sacrifice and someone is tying your child up while she seizes and has IVs in her, what exactly are you going to think? According to Hmong & American Culture: Medicine, “Hmong Shamanism is ancestor worship, which involves spirits, ghosts, and animism. What did you like most about The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down? The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down “Fadiman describes with extraordinary skill the colliding worlds of Western medicine and Hmong culture.” —The New Yorker “This fine book recounts a poignant tragedy…It has no heroes or villains, but it has an abundance of innocent suffering, and … It was awarded many honors including: A Salon Book Award Winner Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest Boston Book Review 1997 Ann Rea Jewell Non-Fiction Prize The subtitle of this book, originally published in 1997, presents the story in a nutshell: “A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures”. "Dan had no way of knowing that Foua and Nao Kao had already diagnosed their daughter's problem as the illness where the spirit catches you and you fall down. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. While doing so, you leave behind all possessions, and experience severe emotional suffering and possible separation from family. Culture plays a major role in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Chapter Summary. After viewing cross-cultural medicine in this book, it is safe to conclude that American and Hmong medicine practices differ in many ways, cultural misunderstandings occur, and Lia would have benefitted with a mixture of both Hmong and American practices. When they realized Lia couldn’t swallow, they decided to pour it down the nasogastric tube, and Peggy, certain Lia would die anyway, instructed the nurses to let them do so.” To continue their traditions of the Hmong culture, they had a ceremony at the Lee’s house where they sacrificed a pig in hopes that Lia’s suffering soul would regain balance. The American doctors claimed that they tried every possible way to make it easier for Lia’s parents to care for Lia. Hmong people believe that the body is a shell consisting of three to seven souls and if one is lost then everything is out of balance. Unformatted text preview: Themes in The Spirit Catches you and You Fall down Cultural Collision Culture plays a major role in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. 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. In it, he also wrote that because of poor parental compliance regarding the medication this case obviously would come under the realm of child abuse, specifically child neglect Unless there could be some form of compliance with the medication regimen and control of the child’s seizure disorder, this child is at risk for status epilepticus which could result in irreversible brain damage and also possibly death.” Most people of American society would agree that taking Lia away was the right decision in order to prevent her seizures from coming back, and others might believe that Lia’s parents were only making it worse for her by not abiding to the doctor’s orders. However, later on in the book, we realized that Lia’s conditions were only getting worse when she was taken away. Lia is a child of Hmong refugees, and her parents Foua and Nao Kao believe Lia's seizures are caused by her soul fleeing, scared away by the slamming door. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a 1997 nonfiction book by American journalist Anne Fadiman. Epilepsy is called, quag dab peg1 in the Hmong culture that translates to the spirit catches you and you fall down. Many conflicts arise between cultures due to misunderstandings of different ways of living. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Continually, a major part in the book was when Lia contracted septic shock from the hospital. The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down examines the ways in which people cling to various strongly-held tenets set forth by their cultures. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and issues of culture, immigration, medicine, and the war in [Laos] with such skill that it's nearly impossible to put spirit. For her best comfort, Lia should have stayed with her family in her own home early on instead of being taken away. Looking at cross-cultural medicine, the goal of this essay is to showcase Hmong and American medicines, where cultural misunderstandings lie, as well as, deciding which practice is most beneficial for Lia. Every other chapter shares some aspect of Hmong history or culture: food, clothing, … The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is about the cross-cultural ethics in medicine. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was her first novel, published in 1997. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. The United States thinks of itself as a nation made up of many diverse populations, a “melting pot” of ethnicity. Jeanine Hilt is a social worker and she made Lia her personal cause. Whenever Lia was in critical care, Dr. Neil and Peggy Ernst were there as well, which makes the readers believe they were very dedicated to her, day in and day out. Lia’s conditions should have been treated inside her home whenever possible. 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