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

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragic true story written by Anne Fadiman, who spent over five years in the middle of a fight between Hmong culture and American medicine. The book is about a young Hmong child named Lia Lee. At 3 months old she started showing signs of severe epilepsy. Her American doctors had a strict and rigorous treatment plan, but were baffled when the family refused to follow it because of their culture and beliefs. Anne Fadiman originally went to the Lee’s hometown of Merced California as a columnist writing an article on Hmong culture for Life Magazine, but soon gained a personal connection to the Lee family.

“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.

In the book Panic, Lauren Oliver creates the character Heather Nill whose determination and bravery helps illustrate her strength and faith in herself. Heather and her other friends participate in the competition of their lifetime for the chance to win a large cash prize. Panic is the legendary game that occurs yearly in the small town of Carp, NY. Any graduating seniors are welcome to compete in the dangerous games to win the prize. Those who want to participate in panic must jump of a cliff the day after graduation, then the more challenging games begin.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman introduces the reader to the Hmong culture and to the Lee’s family experience with western medicine. Throughout the book it talks of the past interactions of the Hmong and Americans, showing reasoning why the Hmong already mistrust Americans and western medicine. Following World War II, the Hmong culture was rejected and ridiculed by the Chinese for not assimilating with their culture, causing many to move to the U.S. Upon arrival, they were still ridiculed, harassed, and violated. In the Hmong’s eyes, they deserved respect and welfare for their sacrifices in the war.

In today’s society people are faced with the idea of racism. There are groups and riots that protest supporting the motto “black lives matter.” The problem of racism can be found in a very important part of the world today: medicine. Racism has been an issue in medicine for a long time. Although it may not be as extreme, everyone from patients to doctors is affected by these issues.

North Dakota Road Trip The passage from The Horizontal World by Debra Marquart’s 2006 memoir is all about growing up in North Dakota and knowing the land around it. She is describing one of her memories when she was growing up in North Dakota. She relates to TV news anchors and really anyone who may know some of the geography of North Dakota such as the residents. Talks very highly of North Dakota’s geography and how great it is to live and grow up there, so she is trying to tell everyone why they should live there.

Book Review: The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Tim Merlino Drexel University November 2017 The patient-doctor relationship recognizes transference affects as a bi-directional relationship which affects the way a health care provider treats a patient and the way the patient responds to treatment (Zinn, 1990). Fadiman’s book examines different problems in the culture of American medicine by highlighting a tragedy centered around a Hmong immigrant family and their sick child, Lia, in California (Fadiman, 2012). The story also highlights some important lessons to be learned by the American health care system to avoid future incidents like described by Fadiman and to ultimately apply cultural competency in public health (Fadiman, 2012).

Many authors have written science-fiction stories to warn people about future, including Kurt Vonnegut and Stephen King. Vonnegut has written several science fiction stories using dark humor and irony, for example, the short story, 2BR02B. In this short story, Vonnegut describes a society where there is no death and the population of the United States is stabilized at forty million souls by killing someone for each person born. Mr. Wehling, a soon to be a father of three, discovers the flaws in society as a result of the birth of his children, Mr. Wehling has to find volunteers that will sacrifice themselves for his children. In I am the Doorway, Stephen King uses his style of suspense and horror to warn the audience.

The case of Lia Lee can be used holistically to showcase the negative effects which a culture and language barrier can produce between doctor and patient. It can reveal how communication and cultural sensitivity can aid in medical practice. Nevertheless, Lia’s case also shows the need for doctors and healthcare practitioners to learn more of about a culture so that treatment may be administered smoothly and without complete comprehension of the patient and their

Kallen Brunson In the article, “How Race becomes Biology: Embodiment of Social Inequality” by Clarence C. Gravlee, Gravlee argues that race, and the assumption of race in everyday life, makes the difference in biology much more clear and affects the life cycles of people due to their perceived race (Gravlee, 51). The author provides, using both his research and others’, an argument against the complete notion that race is only a social construct (Gravlee, 53). Through a series of statements, Gravlee states that race shouldn’t simply be excluded from anthropological discussion, but incorporated into present views regarding healthcare and impacts on society.

Madeline Leininger’s Cultural Care Diversity and Universality Theory, deals with the impact of culture on health and healing. In health care today, a nurse must deal with people from many backgrounds, cultures, and ethnic origins. Transcultural nursing is practiced throughout nursing when caring for people from different cultures. The purpose of Leininger’s theory is to produce knowledge related to nursing care of people from diverse nationalities, who value their ethnic heritage and culture. Leininger’s theory recognized and understood cultural differences and similarities while caring for patients of different backgrounds.

Dreams, contrary to popular belief, are terrible. The best thing to do, is to stop chasing dreams because all dreams do is distract people from more important responsibilities. People spend their time chasing their dreams, but they don’t perform their day to day tasks they need to survive on their own. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette’s mother, Rose Mary, has a dream of becoming an artist. Instead of getting a job to provide for her poverty stricken family, she decides to stay home and paint all day.

During it 's two hour runtime it depicts the both the hardships of pioneering in uncharted territories of medicine as well as the racial discrimination and segregation of America in the 40s. It is a mirror of both great capacity for good and progress as well as inhumane detachment from one another based on race such as with Vivian Thomas or even gender such as with Dr. Helen Taussig. The struggle to advance the discipline of medicine with all cost and at the same time bringing us closer together as human beings under the same purpose no matter the differences is worthy of discussing. The ethical dilemmas depicted on the movie can be divided in two categories; social and medical.

A woman is arguing with her husband at a barbeque. Her husband, red-faced and veiny eyed, smacks her upside the face. Her head slams to the side, but the woman stays silent. The air is filled with whispers of how the woman is put in her place. Today the crowd would be stunned with disgust towards the man.

Discussion Contrary to popular belief, migrants are not diseased people; however, the actual process of migrating, depending on the conditions encountered, makes migrants particularly susceptible to physical, environmental, social and psychological problems.5 In short, the migration process makes migrants and refugees vulnerable. Infectious and communicable diseases may spread in conditions where health hygiene and sanitation are poor. Likewise, the incidence of non-communicable diseases may be distributed inequitably due to the stresses of migration and the lack of access to the necessary medical services both in the countries of origin and the receiving states. Psychosocial illnesses like anxiety and depression from traumatic experiences, for example war, may lead to migrants having problems with substance abuse.