Analysis of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Book Report/Review Example

 Reflection Paper on “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” The book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” talks of a Hmong child and her American doctors as well as the collision of two cultures. Hmong is an ethnic group in Asia that lives in the Southern Asian Mountains. Others moved to America and settled in the mountains of Thailand. Lia Lee who is a Hmong child suffered from epilepsy (Fadiman, 2012). The diseases progressed to a level where Lia Lee lived a vegetative state for the rest of her life. The disease also destroys her brain beyond any repair. She later gets into a coma after she suffered grand mal seizure and lives up to the age of 26 years with no higher brain functions. This story, which is a true story, shows the tug of war that existed between Lia’s parents and her doctors, between culture and healthcare profession. Important issues regarding healthcare and religious belief/practice Reading through this book, one will find the high level of the clash of ideas which is eminent. A cultural conflict exists between modern healthcare and religious beliefs or practices. The text is an example of the level of war which exists between western medicine or health care professionals and religious beliefs or practices. The religion of the Hmong people has it that a disease like the one suffered by Lia Lee is spiritual in nature (Fadiman, 2012). They also believe that epilepsy is brought about by a vengeful and an evil spirit named dab which catches the soul of a person making the person fallfall and people suffering from epilepsy become shamans or txiv neebs. Epilepsy is referred to as qaug dab peg which means that a spirit which catches a person and they fall. A conflict exists between the scientific factors behind the cause of epilepsy by the healthcare professionals and the perceived spiritual factors by the Hmong people. They also believe in animal sacrifices as the cure for such diseases something which contradicts the beliefs of western medicine. To the healthcare professionals, epilepsy is a difficult condition to medicate and trial and error methods is advisable but with different types of anti-seizure medications (Fadiman, 2012). This conflict quite challenges healthcare professionals as they become unable to reach these people regardless of their severe medical conditions. In most cases, culture becomes a challenge to healthcare professionals as it is a door to the treatment of all diseases. The text also brings about the kind of language barrier which exists between medical practitioners and the people. Normal people like the Hmong people usually have a lot of trouble in following instructions and especially those who do not read them like in the case of Hmong people (Fadiman, 2012). The Hmong people did not trust the modern medicines, and this obstructed the treatment of Lee. There were translators at the time when Lee was sick, and if they were there, cultural barrier was higher than the language barrier. However, a translator would have bridged the gap by helping the parent of Lee understand their daughter’s condition was medical and not spiritual (Fadiman, 2012). Lee’s parents held the belief that tradition and religion surpassed any medicine and that are why they were extremely stubborn and did not follow the instructions given to them by Lee’s doctors. Language barrier between the western medicine and the religious groups is another challenge faced by healthcare professionals as people continue to ignore the instructions given by the doctors which usually end up with disastrous consequences. Engaging the issues The fact that the parents of Lee involved the modern doctors in her was a bold move. The Merced Community Medical Center also did its best by diagnosing the condition of Lia Lee and also by giving medication to her parents even though the parents never followed the medical instructions given by the American doctors (Fadiman, 2012). In the phase of modern western civilization, the Muslim religion does not separate religion from medicine. The belief and traditions of Muslims usually involve the spiritual component of a disease alongside medicine both traditional and modern. As a Muslim, I would have advocated for the modern medicine and educated them accordingly. Though the medical condition may have been spiritual, its remedy is medicine. Muslims treat some diseases as spiritual in nature which come as a punishment but can be treated using modern medicine. It would have been very important for the American doctors to first understand the culture differences of their patient as this is crucial to the treatment of the illness. All in all, respecting their belief and culture would have been the way to go. What makes me stumped is that fact the people and the parents of Lia Lee were so blindfolded by their religion. The parents claimed that they loved their first born daughter, and that is why they could not accept the western medicine. The tragedy of Lia Lee can be attributed to her parent’s ignorance. Am also stumped by the parent’s failure to give their daughter medical dosages as prescribed by the American doctors (Fadiman, 2012). They believed that the state of their daughter was a sense of spiritual giftedness which they did not want to take it away. It is also quite surprising to note that the parents watched their daughter condition deteriorate to a situation where she went into a coma while they stood firm on their culture, beliefs and religion. It is quite surprising on how people can cling to their religion and believes while the life of one of them is at stake. The fact people are unable to differentiate between beliefs, culture and medicine also makes worried. These people also shy away from enjoying the benefits of modern medicine. Lessons learned from the book It is important to respect the beliefs of people as well as they culture. However, culture and belief can be broken in extreme cases where lives of people are at stake. Culture, beliefs and religion cannot be traded for human life as life God given and it is divine. In this case, the parents of Lee should have compromised their culture and religion for the wellbeing of their daughter. Their ignorance on the importance of modern medicine cost them the good life of their daughter and eventually, an early death. This book has taught me that my personal beliefs can be compromised whenever necessary and more so if the issue at hand is the life of a fellow human being. Medical practitioners should approach healthcare and patient care with a keen and with consideration for what those patients hold dear like culture and belief. However, it is important for the healthcare professional to go an extra mile to educate people on the importance of western medicine. They should let people know that the use of modern medicine does not in any way compromise ones religion. Medical practitioners should also approach health care by making people understand that medicine and science cannot be separated from religion, culture and beliefs. They all intermarry and should be let to run together. As a medical practitioner, I feel pity for those patients who have been blindfolded by their culture and beliefs to extent that they believe in things that are quite offensive or very strange. I also feel the need to educate them on the best way to go on these things in order to make life easy. A medical practitioner feels pity for a patient who refuses to take her medication as prescribed just because his or her culture and belief says otherwise. References Fadiman A, (2012). The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Read More