The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, four-year-old Hmong American Lia Lee enters a vegetative state following complications of epilepsy. Author Anne Fadiman investigates the complications...

This is certainly a tough question. If you were to ask which would be the better option, I would say go with the second one, because you will have no affect if the parents can't keep her on her...

In answering your question, I assume by "clients" you mean Nao Kao and Foua, and the doctors in charge of Lia's care are the ones who would benefit from understanding Hmong culture, the ethnic...

I think the answer to your question is a matter of opinion—and it is this very matter of opinion that forms the quandary at the heart of this heartbreaking story. The ultimate debate, as raged...

Yes, he was certainly justified in this action. As a doctor, and especially the one responsible for Lia's care, it is his duty according to the Hippocratic oath to do no harm. Regardless of the...

In The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, the clash of Western and Hmong cultures hinders Lia Lee's access to sufficient medical care, with devastating results. Any solution must focus on...

Foua is the mother of the main subject of the book, Lia Lee. She fights to heal her daughter using traditional Hmong remedies, and resists modern Western medicine. Unfortunately, she ends up losing...