The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

As I get through the chapters of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman, I never really thought about the issues with language barrier affecting people in the way it does in this book.

The book takes place in the 80's and is about this Hmong child who has seizures and her family thinks of her as a shaman. She has been brought to the ER numerous times and had been given many different types of medication that was told would control her seizure activity. Her family didn't trust the doctors and took their prescriptions as just suggestions, not something that MUST be taken as prescribed.

The number one issue with the family and the doctors is communication. The parents were unable to explain to the doctors what they thought was wrong with their daughter and what they believed to be the correct way to medicate. The doctors didn't want to deal with them because they were getting aggravated that they wouldn't follow the directions that they were given to care for their child.

It was difficult for the doctors to find interpreters for Hmong families, and without ways to communicate with them, the doctors couldn't gain their trust.

I want to get into the medical field and after reading only half of this book it made me realize that becoming a nurse or doctor isn't going to be difficult just because of the many things I need to memorize, but it's also going to be difficult because I will come across families whom I won't be able to communicate with because of the language barrier. There will sometimes be an interpreter to help me out, but sometimes I might not get one and I will have to try my hardest to communicate and gain their trust. It will be hard but I'm sure I'll be able to do it.

I couldn't imagine being a mother of a child who is having a severe medical problem and not understanding what is fully going on and why these doctors are prescribing so many different kinds of medication. Also, I would find it hard to trust the doctor if they weren't willing to take the time to understand where I am coming from and not willing to help with the language barrier. But then again, I also feel it is important for people from other countries to learn the English language, even if it isn't every single word.

I feel that it is very important for hospitals to have an interpreter for every major language. Yes that is a lot of work, but in the long run how many lives could it save?