"A Perfect Vegetable"

Though I realize that Dr. Peggy Philp was speaking sarcastically when she likened Lia's post-brain damaged status to a "perfect" vegetable, this line still struck me as odd and discomforting. In looking at Lia Lee after her final grand mal seizure (the big one), Dr. Philp sees that the septic shock to her brain has ironically resolved her epilepsy (and her problem of obesity). In Dr. Philp's opinion, Lia "was the healthiest she had ever been." This idea of health seems ridiculously distorted as, at this point, Lia is severly brain damaged. It seems that here health is equated with the ease with which the doctors can work with the patient. The seizures made treatment physically difficult while the obesity made it hard to insert an IV, therefore these conditions were unhealthy.
Lia, in her vegetative state, represents the ideal patient, one that neither complains nor physically resists any treatment. This sarcastically spoken remark is echoed at the end of the book when Fadiman mentions that cadavers are nicknamed "ideal patients" because they cannot complain or sue (much less be killed).

Shifting to the Hmong perspective, specifically that of Nao Kao and Foua, on Lia's progressive states, there is overwhelming evidence that they would consider Lia to have been healthiest and more importantly happiest when she was living with epilepsy. The simple facts that epileptic seizures are viewed as transcendental visionary experiences in Hmong culture and that Nao Kao and Foua held firm to their belief that the medicine was the ultimate cause of Lia's severe condition, highlight the differences in perspective. Lia was initially their well-fed princess with great spiritual potential. Foua and Nao Kao sought western medicine only when her seizures were severe and she appeared to be in intense pain. And they soon linked anti-convulsion medicine to Lia's declining state by causation. In the end, Lia is physically and mentally debilitated and while her parents still love her more than anything, they have deep regrets and miss the Lia they had.