Spirit Catches You Essays - Anthropology Of Religion, Epilepsy

Spirit Catches You In the book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman, a child named Lia Lee is taken away from her parents by Child Protective Services and placed in foster care. Because they aren't giving her medication for epilepsy. Although resulting in some medical benefits those benefits were lost because of destructive psychological and emotional damage to Lia. Dr. Neil Ernst decided to call child protective services when Lia Lee's parents Nou Kou and Foua were reluctant to give her her medicine. Dr. Neil Ernst said: "I felt it was important for these Hmongs to understand that there were certain elements of medicine that we understood better than they did and that there were certain rules they had to follow with their kids' lives. I wanted the word to get out in the community that if they deviated from that, it was not acceptable behavior."(pg. 79 Fadiman). Dr. Ernst could have also been arrested for not reporting it. There were some alternatives to calling Child Protective Services such as my favorite one; having a nurse visit the Lees' three times daily to administer the medications, but this thought did not occur to Dr. Ernst and/or seemed unreasonable at the time. Although Fadiman does not mention what Dr. Ernst thought about this course of action, I can only suspect that it would have been too expensive to have a nurse visit three times a day. Also they shouldn't be rewarded for their noncompliance by having someone else administer their daughter's medication. It might have also provoked the Lees' to anger because they didn't like to give Lia the medicine because of how the medicine made her depressed and sullen. After Lia was taken away for a period of a few weeks, Nou Kou almost beat an interpreter named Sue Xiong who was interpreting for a CPS (#) social worker. Nou Kou said: "I was outside and Sue came inside and she called me and said, Come in here, you come in here. At that time I was ready to hit Sue, and I got a baseball bat right there. My son-in-law was with me, and he grabbed me and told me not to do it."(pg. 91 Fadiman), so you can see the Lees' were violent natured. The second reason the Nou Kou and Foua did not want to give their daughter the medicine was that they believed like other Hmongs that people with epilepsy are caught by a good or bad spirit which makes them fall to the ground (the Hmong word for epilepsy translates into: the spirit catches you and you fall down) and while their under siege they get messages from the gods. Many people in their culture with epilepsy become cultural healers or shamans. The plan of sending a nurse would have been my plan. It would have been allot of time and money though. And when the Hmong community is already draining our resources through welfare doesn't make much sense to spend more money on them. It also would not have said that"our medicine is better" as good either. Although Dr. Neil's plan of letting CPS handle it worked out for him it did not work out for Lia for she had more seizures at her foster home with the medicine than at home with missed and half dosses. The reason is because she did not want to be separated from her parents, and the emotional damage from the separation. Some people would say it was selfish and lazy that Dr. Ernst did not at least try to use a nurse to administer the medication. I believe if I was Him that I would try sending a nurse for Two weeks to see if it would work and then make a decision. But on the other hand I believe that these stubborn, ignorant people shouldn't be pampered when they are already helping themselves to so much (#) from the tax payers through welfare. Because of these two issues of Dr. Ernst's quickness to make a decision, and the Hmong community taking so much and giving nothing back, it is hard for me to make a decision and I feel myself "slipping" towards Dr. Ernst's decision. I don't blame Dr. Ernst for his decision which I think is the most logical choice and even if he tried my Two weeks idea it still wouldn't make sending a nurse any less expensive. All I am saying is that he should not have worried about teaching the Hmong

War on Terrorism essays

War on Terrorism essays When I think of the tradgedy that occured three years ago on September 11th, it brings back memories of anguish, sadness and despair. I cannot stop mourning for the thousands of innocent lives that were lost and the other thousands of people that lost their loved one's. Regretadly, it seems impossible for the American people to move forward with their lives because everyday we are bombarded with even more American lives that are lost. Now, three years later, when someone mentions that tragic day, my first thoughts go to the "war on terrorism". Before September 11th, I personally had never heard the phrase "war on terrorism". But for the past three years, this phrase has been embedded into the American people's vocabulary. There are numerous emotions that are elicited from this particular expression. It is a phrase that has a different meaning to different individuals. To some, it may mean to be a necessary way to fight for our protection and prevent any other events like September 11th from happening in the future. For others, it may seem absurd and unnessesary. Yet, to friends and family of the soldiers fighting in the war on terrorism, it may bring up feelings of sadness or heroism. Everyone is different in this aspect. However, no matter how a particular person may feel about the event, it does not change the fact that this conflict in Iraq has claimed almost three times the number of American lives lost in the entire Persian Gulf War (Cohen et. al.). They are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. They all share one thing...they will not see home again. Since the attacks on September 11th, 2001 occured, the United States government has been noticably careful to call any actions it takes against others as a "war against terrorism". I have found this phrase to be puzzling to me. It seems to be used as a way to justify any killing done by the United States. The term "War" is defined...

CAM Practioners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CAM Practioners - Essay Example The first attempt I made to contact a CAM is successful, and Simon Brad for to an interview. The CAM agrees to let me observe him while he is doing his work. He is a traditional alternative medicine practitioner specializing in acupuncture. Brad argues that there are situations where normal medicine does not offer solutions to patients. The patients end up seeking for alternative methods to get well. He agrees to carry out a massage on the legs of a patient while in the interview. Brad has a tight schedule; he can spare an hour of his time. He says most hospitals have policies on the extent to which their patients can rely on CAM practitioners. About having policies, the hospitals refer their patients to specific CAM practitioners. Brad argues that he has a fifteen-year experience in the field. He can work with other individuals with specific needs. He gives an example that a patient with glaucoma should not try specific yoga poses because it will affect them. He says that he is always willing to with normal hospitals if they can cooperate with him. He finds it hard to work orthodox hospitals because they always undermine his knowledge (Ben-Arye et al., 2010). Ben-Arye, E., Traube, Z., Schachter, L., Haimi, M., Levy, M., Schiff, E., & Lev, E. (2010). Integrative Pediatric Care: Parents Attitudes Toward Communication of Physicians and CAM Practitioners. PEDIATRICS, 127(1), e84-e95. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-1286 Eng, J., Verhoef, M., Mulkins, A., & Findlay, B. (2003). Optimal healing from the CAM practitionersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ perspective. Focus On Alternative And Complementary Therapies, 8(4), 495-496.