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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4-page paper examines the gap between western medicine and spiritual beliefs of the Hmong. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: AS43_MTfalldown.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
13th child of Hmong immigrants who suffered epilepsy from the age of three months. Due to huge misunderstandings, cultural barriers and some might say western medical arrogance, Lia ended up
brain dead, never to recover, with the doctors unable to fix her, in the sour words of Lias mother, Foua Lee. Though
the doctors treating Lia and her family wanted what was best for her, huge conflicts were set up between Hmong culture, which had its own way of dealing with illness
and treatment, and that of western medicine. While doctors prescribed anticonvulsants for Lia to reduce symptoms of epilepsy, her parents, and the Hmong community, tended more toward animal sacrifices for
the cure of what they considered Lias wandering soul. The question we need to ask here is if anything could have been done
to bridge the gap between the assimilation-suspicious Hmong culture and that of western medicine, which at times always assumes its right. "I
do not know if Lia would be able to walk and talk today had she been treated by Arthur Kleinman instead of by Neil Ernst and Peggy Philip," Fadiman writes
on p. 262 of her book. "However, I have come to believe that her life was ruined not by septic shock or noncompliant parents but by cross-cultural misunderstanding." Her point
was that if both parties had met each other halfway, perhaps Lias path might have turned out differently. Could Ernst and Philip have
done more to provide Lia with a better quality of care? Could Lias parents improved their daughters outcome? The first question relies on western doctors to understand cultural mores of
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