As a mother I could not imagine having my son taken away from me. When Child Protective Services took Lia away, I was devastated because I know that psychologically this can affect both Lia’s parents, and Lia herself. On the other hand, I feel that maybe Lia can potentially start receiving the care that she needs to manage treatments that are available to her. So I strongly believe that it was the right decision. I think that everyone involved in Lia’s treatment team have been patient enough in providing the necessary education. I am a strong believer in culturally based regimes that may help one to heal. As a nurse participating in Lia’s care, I would not try to deter Lia’s parents from their beliefs, I would instead be more interested in helping them come up with a treatment plan that …show more content…
In a conversation between Bill Selvidge and the doctor, Bill added “But if you took them to this setting, the way the Hmong have come here, and you dressed them up and they drove a car and came to MCMC, you wouldn’t expect to hear those spirit stories anymore”. (Fadiman, 1997, p. 112). A lot of the Hmong that came in blended it in with the rest of the patients so in the case of Lia’s family, it was hard to believe that they would believe that a spirit in particular was the one believed to be affecting Lia’s epilepsy. Some of the healthcare providers communicated great with the Hmong because some of them empathized with a chronic condition and the affect that it may impose on one’s life along with their families. From this I learned that empathy and pity have opposite effect on the care that I can provide as a nurse. Of course feeling a sense of empathy toward my patient will be more beneficial to the care that I provide, because it will show that I care, rather than me simply being annoyed. Such feelings can have a great impact on the nonverbal message that I send out to my
spiritual that was talked about. I think that if the nurse's and the patients had a
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western medicinal remedies with aspects of cultural that are good for the well-being of the patient, and the belief of the patient’s ability to recuperate. What we see is a clash, or lack of integration in the example of the story thereof. Lia, a Hmong child with a rare form of epilepsy, must enter the western hospital instead of the Laotian forest. In the forest she would seek out herbs to remedy the problems that beset her, but in the west she is forced to enter the western medical hospital without access to those remedies, which provided not only physical but spiritual comfort to those members of the Hmong culture. The herbs that are supposed to fix her spirit in the forest are not available in the western hospital. The Merced County hospital system clashes with Hmong animist traditions.
The Hmong culture is evidence that health worlds exist. Health worlds exist in which health is understood in terms of its social and religious context (SITE BOOK). Spiritual beliefs in the Hmong culture are strongly connected to their view and description of health and illness (SITE 6). Illness in the Hmong culture is believed to be caused by evil spirits, a curse from an unhappy ancestor, or a separation of the soul from the body (California Department of Health Services, 2004). Paja Thao, the shaman in “The Split Horn” emphasizes his belief that a soul can separate from its body and the failure to return back to the body is a sign that the individual will become ill. Like the Chinese concept of ‘Ying and Yang’, Hmong people believe that the balance between the body and soul determines perfect health. Paja Thao believes that a body is attached to seven souls, and when there is a loss in a soul, illness occurs. In contrast to this holistic concept that the Hmong’s believe in, the Western culture is not able to predict when illnesses will occur. Instead, the dominant biomedical model of health focuses on preventing depression through a healthy life style, such as exercise and nutrition
The Hmong culture is firmly rooted in their spiritual belief in animism, ancestral worship and reincarnation. These beliefs connect them to their sense of health and well-being. They view illness as having either a natural or spiritual cause. A spiritual cause results in a “loss of souls” or is an action or misdeed that may have offended an ancestor’s spirit (California Department of Health Services, 2004, Purnell, 2013, p. 317). The soul escapes the body and may not be able to find its way back home.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is a nonfiction book that brings to light the clash of Hmong culture and Western medicine in Merced, California. Anne Fadiman tells the story of a Hmong immigrant family, the Lees, and the unfortunate condition of epilepsy that their daughter Lia suffers from. Throughout the book the reader sees great conflict inflicted on medical practitioners due to the Lee’s own cultural beliefs and the frustration suffered by the family due to miscommunication. Anne develops the story by giving a detailed background of the Hmong peoples’ lifestyle in their indigenous land of Lao, how it contributes to their beliefs, and their struggle to understand and accept Western practices.
What would Florence Nightingale think of the United States health insurance today? The availability of health insurance in 1860 to 1900 was virtually nonexistent. In 1798, The United States Congress established the U.S. Marine Hospital that serviced military seaman. This was the earliest form of coverage for health insurance. Soon after this time, the Travelers Insurance Company established our first form accident insurance in 1863 (Scofea, 1994). During this time, the Civil War was taking place in our country. The astounding number of deaths due to disease and illness helped pave the way for advancing medical practice in the United States. With the help of the American Red, the development of health care organizations progressed (American
Though Lia’s parents and her doctors wanted the best for her, the above barriers were creating a hindrance to her treatment. They both were not understanding each other and the interpreter was also not there, doctors wanted to transfer her to another best hospital because they were not getting with her disease but her parents misunderstood the situation and thought they were shifting her for their own benefit. In expansion to these convictions, Hmong likewise have numerous traditions and folks that are negotiated by those of the American standard and therapeutic groups; for instance, some Hmong customarily perform custom creature sacrifice and in view of extremely particular entombment customs and the alarm of every human's numerous souls potentially getting away from, the accepted Hmong convictions don't consider anybody experiencing obtrusive restorative surgery. The Hmong medicinal framework is dependent upon nature-based hypothesis that lets life stream as it may be, while the western restorative framework is dependent upon the modernized humanism-based medicinal science. So when Lia was dealt with by the American specialist with western pharmaceutical, Lia's guardians don't concur with them....
During the court case the judge said that lead social worker Gunn Wahlstrom was “naïve beyond belief”. This report brought over 68 recommendations to make sure cases like this did not happen again. The recommendations included putting the child first and the parent’s second. “Jasmines’ fate illustrates all too clearly the disastrous consequences of the misguides attitude of the social workers having treated Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington as the clients first and foremost” (London Borough of Brent, 1985,p295). The social workers in Jasmine’s c...
Within this critical analysis, I hope to show that the lack of communication and compromise between the Hmong family and the American doctors, was the defining blow to Lia’s ill health. I hope to do this by addressing the following three main points of interest in relation to this miscommunication; the views held by the American healthcare professions on the causes of Lia’s illness, contrasted with the opinions of Lia’s parents. I will then discuss the health-seeking strategies of Lia’s parents and how they were influenced by different resou...
In the book The Spirit Catches you and you Fall Down, ethnocentrism can also be seen. Throughout the book the family and the doctors have different ideas of medicine/healing techniques are often disagreed on. It’s important for the doctor to see that biomedicine has its own intentions of saving patient through standard procedures and beliefs. Understanding those terms will shed some light on the culture of the patient, which has their own intentions, beliefs, and rules as well. Breaking down ethnocentrism to find an agreement is a good goal to accomplish in order have successful prognosis and healing. In addition, shedding the ethnocentrism will allow the doctors to see the different cultural beliefs and not judge right away. Although, some cultural remedies may not always work, it’s wrong for people to have the mindset of ethnocentrism without even considering their beliefs first.
...ation could have been improved between doctors and patients in simple ways. Interpreters were used and children went to school and helped translate for family members. These helped communication somewhat, but it wasn’t enough. There may not have been any other way to help, but some people tried to and doctors tried to be patient with the Hmong to understand what they wanted and to make them understand what was going on.
Traditional Hmong’s believe in their Shaman rather than western doctors, they choose to detain their treatment by hosting their rituals to save them. A shaman is “a person who acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, foretell the future, control spiritual forces, etc” (dictionary.com). Hmong individual’s have a belief that ancestral spirits, including the spirits of shamans, are reincarnated into the same family tree. Hmong consider being a shaman an honor because they carry the duty of helping mankind according to Hmong mythology. Differences between Hmong traditional beliefs and Western biomedical beliefs create a lack of understanding. Negative health care experiences result in Hmong community members’ mistrust and fear of Western medicine. However, when there’s mistrust between a doctor and a patient there could be lack of treatment because of the differences between our ...
Growing up I was the only one in my family with an olive skin tone who didn’t burn in the sun. Everyone always told me that I inherited my grandfather’s Cherokee Indian features. He never talked about his culture, so I have never associated myself with being Native American. Each Native American tribe has unique cultural beliefs and traditions that are passed down from generation to generation through storytelling. In my family, those traditions ended when my grandfather passed away. As an increasingly diverse country, it is important for nurses and health care providers to deliver culturally competent care. The purpose of this paper is to discuss Native American’s cultural beliefs related to end of life care and how health care providers can
The foundation of nursing practice is grounded in the use of nursing theories. It provides a framework for generating knowledge for furthering the nursing profession. Florence Nightingale, was instrumental in contributing to the modern profession of nursing. Her philosophical assumptions served as the core of her environmental theory.
The parents played a significant role in “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”. They ultimately wanted what was best for their daughter however their idea of what proper treatment was did not always match with the doctor’s recommendations. Initially, the parents were allowed to be the official caretakers of their child. They brought her to the hospital when she needed medical attention, and brought her back home once she received treatment. However they were deemed “noncompliant” by the doctors at the hospital, when they failed to administer the proper dosages and medications to Lia at home. In the eyes of medical professionals they were ultimately harming their daughter and custody was taken away from them. They then no longer had the