The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: Chapters 1-6

So far after reading the first six chapters of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, I’m completely enthralled. This book not only provides an amazingly insightful look at the Hmong culture, but it also details how the Hmong have managed to survive in America. Specifically, this book addresses how the Hmong deal with American medicine. While, I was absolutely fascinated by the various Hmong medicinal beliefs and theories behind sickness I also greatly sympathized with the American doctors who were administering to Lia. The frustration that they felt was clearly overwhelming for them because they were trying to do their best by Lia, but felt thwarted by her parents. This was the most provoking aspect of the story for me as the reader because I was showed both sides in a very relatable and understandable way. I was able to understand where both cultures were coming from and as a result I also greatly sympathized with Lia’s parents because they clearly had their own views about Lia’s sickness that Western medicine couldn’t comprehend or appreciate. This does not mean that Lia’s doctors were disrespectful, but it means they are busy, overworked, and indoctrinated with Western ideals.
However, another local doctor, Roger Fife, provided a different approach to Western medicine. This is a doctor who is not considered by his contemporaries to be the best doctor. Yet, he clearly is doing something right because he is well liked in the Hmong community and the majority of his patients are Hmong. This popularity is due to the fact that he listens to the wants of his Hmong patients and doesn’t force Western medical practices on them because “It’s their body”. I found this situation to be the most interesting in the book so far. It is not that Fife has an understanding or appreciation of the Hmong people, but he just follows his patients’ desires even though his medical background may be telling him to take another course of action. The role that doctors play in Lia’s situation seems to be a lose-lose because Neil and Peggy provided Lia with the same outstanding care that they would any patient. They went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that Lia’s parents’ understood her medicine regime. However, Lia’s parents don’t understand the reasons behind giving their child so many drugs, they still tell time according to how they did on the farm. These factors made it impossible for her parents to administer Lia the care that Western medicine said she should be getting. On the other hand Dr. Fife is listening to the wants of his patient and acting based off of that. Isn’t that one of the main roles of a doctor, to listen to the patient? However, this situation is further complicated by the fact that Lia is a minor. If she grows up and only wants Hmong medicine then that preference should be respected, but as a minor in this situation I believe that a doctor has to use his best judgment.
Lia’s situation reminds me of the issue of power that we have previously discussed in class. The dominating force in this situation is clearly the Western medicine and the doctors are acting according to what they know to be right. This is similar to the same thought process that was utilized in the eugenics movement in America and Puerto Rico. Clearly, there were other factors involved in both situations, but a strong force in both situations was the dominating white power enforcing its ideals and beliefs on other marginalized cultures. While, I think that the doctors only had the best intentions for Lia at heart still their unwavering belief in the superiority of their ideas does strongly resemble the same thought process that we have seen in many different situations throughout this class.