¶ … Spirit Catches You and You Fall
There were a number of different delivery systems models in place and which attempted to effect positive care for Lia Lee and her family in Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. One can successfully argue that more than one model was used throughout the duration of the book for the simple fact that there were a number of barriers preventing success from any of the models due to the simple fact that Lia's family were Laos immigrants with little cultural understanding of the United States. However, it is fairly evident that the model that was initially used and used more than any others in this work of literature was the medical model. The medical model is commonly used within westernized society and is the oldest of the three traditional models (which includes the public health and the human services model, as well). The basis for this model is that the practitioner or medical professional treating a patient analyzes the patients symptoms, issues a diagnosis, issues treatment (typically based on medication) and hopefully effects a cure.
The initial medical personnel that treated Lee, Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp, attempted to utilize the medical model but encountered significant resistance along the way. It is worth mentioning that this resistance was both unintentional and intentional. The communication barriers present between the lees and these doctors prevented the former from efficaciously identifying the baby girl's symptoms and issuing a relevant diagnosis, since neither could speak the language of the other. Additionally, the medical facility that the pair worked at could not afford to hire translators. Once the medical personnel were able to assess the fact that Lee was suffering from epilepsy, several cultural barriers reared themselves to interfere with the treatment stage of the medical model. The Lees did not understand many of the specifications for adminstering the medication for...
Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is a groundbreaking book about cross-cultural communication in health care. The book is about Lia Lee, who was the first in her Hmong family to be born in the United States. Her parents spoke no English. When Lia Lee was three months old, she had her first seizure. Due to misdiagnosis, a string of unfortunate events prevented Lia Lee from
The family would certainly have been more comfortable if the hospital made more of an effort to understand their culture and beliefs. The Lees were treated as if they were indignant and unresponsive to the needs of their child which was not the case at all. The hospital could have enlisted the help of affluent Hmong natives who have become more accustomed to American traditions. This person could have helped
Within this clash of cultures, the Lee family did not know how to cope with the medical system in place to help Lia and her epilepsy. When they refused to give her the medications, Lia was removed from the home and placed in foster care. When the foster care parents gave her the prescribed medication, her condition worsened in several important ways. The foster parents believe that Lia's parents realized
Spirit Faidman, Anne. (1998) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The title of Anne Fadiman's book on the implications of multiculturalism in modern nursing sounds more like a religious testimony than a textual asset to the modern nursing profession. However, Faidman tells a tale of Biblical proportions, and the emotional nature of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is epic in its
Yet the nightmare continued, because the communication problems were not resolved. During the next four years, her anticonvulsant medicines were changed about 25 times, which would have been hell for any family. The Lees questioned the value of so many prescriptions, especially with their Hmong mindset, and did not follow directions. Of course, this was exacerbated by the fact that they did not understand the dosages. The doctors inaccurately concluded
They cannot ignore the socioeconomic issues of adversity so often present and, where necessary, need to act as advocates, mediators and social brokers (Compton, Galaway, & Curnoyer, 2005). The concern is that the issue of healthcare for culturally diverse individuals is so complex, there are no exact rights and wrongs. For example, in Fadiman's book, no person(s) can be said to be ultimately correct or incorrect in his/her behavior or
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